Tension increased again in the Black Sea… Attack on a ship with four Indians at Odessa Port, second incident in a week.

A commercial ship carrying four Indian citizens was attacked at Odessa port in Ukraine. According to an official statement from the Indian Embassy in Kiev, two crew members are safe, while information about the remaining two is still awaited. According to the embassy statement, the incident occurred on Saturday when MV AGN Ragnar was attacked at Odessa Port. Odessa port is one of Ukraine’s important Black Sea ports, which has been attacked several times since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022. The Indian Mission has said in a statement that it is closely monitoring the situation.

This incident occurred a few days after the death of four Indian sailors in the Russian attack on Odessa Port. After this attack, India had summoned Russia’s most senior diplomat and lodged a strong protest.

India issued advisory

This attack has happened at a time when India has issued an advisory for citizens working on ships in the Black Sea. “Commercial ships operating in or passing through these areas are facing major security threats, including missile and drone attacks,” the advisory said. A statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said, “There has been an increase in such attacks on commercial ships since April, in which 5 Indians have died.”

The advisory said that sailors who want to work in this area should exercise extreme caution and take other precautionary measures. These include obtaining complete information from employers, recruitment agencies and ship operators about the ship’s route, ports at which the ship will stop, security arrangements, insurance coverage and methods of action in case of emergency.