Three ships attacked by the US in three days: What we know

"No contact whatsoever was made with the vessel," the company said as it called on the US to release evidence of its communications with the ship.

Settebello, which is owned by an Indian company called Aqua Aurora Shipping Lines, has not been sanctioned by the US but is on the sanctions list of the campaign group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) which says it has been involved in transporting Iranian crude oil.

Ship tracking data shows Settebello has sailed from the Gulf to the Chinese port cities of Zhoushan and Lianyungang over the past six months.

Settebello's location tracker has been inactive since 31 May, data on ship-tracking website MarineTraffic shows, so it is not clear where the vessel was when it was hit.

IOS Marine FZE said the ship had been stationary for about 10 days before the strike.

Satellite imagery analysed by BBC Verify from 8 June shows the ship about 80 miles (120km) from port of Sohar in Oman.

The Indian crew of a third tanker urged authorities to "please help" after the ship was struck by the US on Monday, saying it was on fire and sinking in a distress call shared with BBC Verify.

Marivex was sanctioned by the US for links with Iran under a previous name - Arihant. The US has also sanctioned the ship's owner, Arihant Shipping Inc, and has accused the ship of transporting "hundreds of thousands of barrels of Iranian fuel oil and bitumen within the Gulf since July 2025".

Ship-tracking data shows Marivex last stopped at the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas in early April where it loaded with cargo and then sailed to two cities on India's west coast - Mangaluru and Karwar, according to MarineTraffic data.

A fire broke out on the tanker on Monday, according to Indian authorities who did not initially comment on the cause of the fire.

Centcom later confirmed that an F-18 Super Hornet fighter jet from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln "fired a precision munition into the ship's engineering and steering spaces".

With the ship's engine disabled, the crew began to send out distress calls saying it had "a fire onboard and vessel is sinking", according to a recording given to BBC Verify by the Forward Seaman's Union of India (FSUI).

Flight tracking data shows a Royal Air Force of Oman helicopter took off from an air base on Masirah Island and verified videos supplied by the FSUI show the crew later being lifted from the ship's deck.

Centcom did not answer BBC Verify's question about whether it had contacted the Omani or Indian authorities before the strike.

The US strikes have sparked concern in India about the safety of India seafarers who constitute one of the largest maritime workforces, with nearly 300,000 serving on vessels across the globe.

"While seafarers are not completely detached from the realities of global trade, they are often the stakeholders with the least influence over geopolitical decisions and the greatest exposure to their consequences," said Harsh V Pant of the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

"India-US relations are passing through a difficult phase and friction will increase if the attacks intensify but there won't be a fundamental rupture in the ties," he added.

Seafarers' unions have also expressed concern over safety in volatile regions and called for better protection.

"Seafarers are workers. They are not soldiers," the FSUI said on Thursday.

"The international community cannot remain a silent spectator while seafarers are forced to navigate through conditions resembling a war zone," the union said.

There are more than 18,000 Indian seafarers in the Gulf region and 13 Indian-flagged vessels are still stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, according to India's shipping ministry.