Two Indian seafarers, Chandra Ram Dubey and Deepak Kumar Gupta, are lost at sea after the general cargo ship MV AGN Ragnar was struck by a Russian drone strike near the Ukrainian port of Odesa.

The Palau-flagged vessel, managed by an operator based in Türkiye, had four Indian crew members on board when the attack occurred. The Indian diplomatic mission in Kyiv confirmed on Sunday that two of the four seafarers are safe, while search and rescue operations were launched to trace the missing two mariners.

The Forward Seamen’s Union of India confirmed on Monday that Dubey and Gupta have been missing since the incident.

The strike on MV AGN Ragnar is the latest in a series of maritime incidents impacting Indian crew members in the region.

The Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi summoned Ukrainian envoy Oleksandr Polishchuk on Monday to convey “strong concerns” following the death of an Indian seafarer on board the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier MV OMORFI.

That vessel was hit by Ukrainian drone strikes on July 18 while transiting the Black Sea in Russian territorial waters. Indian officials condemned such attacks on commercial shipping, “underscoring their adverse impact on the safety of maritime navigation, freedom of navigation, and international commerce.”

A total of five Indian seafarers have been killed in attacks by both sides on commercial shipping in and around the Black Sea since the escalation of the conflict.

Following the fatalities, New Delhi issued an advisory on Sunday instructing the country’s mariners to “exercise utmost caution” before accepting assignments on vessels scheduled to sail through the conflict zone.

The risk to Indian seafarers extends beyond the Black Sea corridor. New Delhi has previously summoned diplomats from Washington, DC, and Tehran after US and Iranian armed forces launched attacks on commercial cargo vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, resulting in the deaths of five Indian crew members.

At least 10 Indian seafarers have been confirmed dead across these two maritime conflict zones.