INDIA summoned the US envoy on Wednesday over an attack on a ship carrying Indian sailors off Oman.

Three Indian seafarers are missing and presumed dead after US forces fired on a Palau-flagged vessel off the coast of Oman on Tuesday that was carrying 24 Indian sailors.

India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had summoned Jason Meeks, the US embassy’s deputy chief of mission in New Delhi.

The US military’s Central Command said it carried out a “precision” strike on a vessel, the Settebello, as it transited the Gulf of Oman transporting Iranian oil, claiming the crew failed to comply with instructions from US forces.

The chemical and oil products tanker was hit when it was around 20 nautical miles north-east of Oman’s port of Sohar, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency.

Condemning the violence, India’s Foreign Ministry called for an end to attacks on commercial shipping and civilian infrastructure in the region.

“Our embassy in Oman is closely monitoring the situation and proactively co-ordinating with the Omani authorities in the ongoing search and rescue operation,” it said in a statement.

Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the UN’s shipping agency, the International Maritime Organisation, on Wednesday condemned “any act from any party that endangers the lives of seafarers and the safety of international shipping.”