One seafarer dead, nine rescued after ship capsizes near Oman

One crew member died while nine were rescued after an oil-products tanker capsized off Oman’s coast of Duqm earlier this week, the country’s Maritime Security Centre said. 

Search and rescue operations for six other seafarers are underway, the agency said on social media platform X. The Comoros-flagged Prestige Falcon had a 16-member crew — 13 from India and three from Sri Lanka.

An official at Oman’s Maritime Security Center said Wednesday there was no indication of the incident having caused an oil spill. Calls to the center on Thursday weren’t answered. It was unclear from ship tracking data whether the vessel was laden at the time it capsized.

The Indian Navy said its warship INS Teg had helped in the rescue operations. Eight of the rescued seafarers were Indian and the other Sri Lankan, according to a post on X.

The Prestige Falcon is owned by United Arab Emirates-based Netco FZE, according to the Equasis marine database. Calls to Netco on Thursday went unanswered.

The Prestige Falcon capsized about 25 nautical miles southeast of Ras Madrakah on Monday. The vessel was relatively small, with a deadweight tonnage of about 7,000 tons, according to Equasis. In comparison, giant supertankers are almost 40 times larger.