22 Indians Killed in West Asia Conflict, Says MEA; 14 Were Seafarers
Image: News On AIR
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Wednesday, 28 October, that 22 Indian nationals, including 14 seafarers, have died in the West Asia conflict over the past eight months. Briefing reporters in New Delhi, he said three of the deaths were in Saudi Arabia, according to a News On AIR report. He said India remains in close contact with the Indian community in the Gulf about their safety.
Families of Seafarers Wait on Updates
The figure matters most to families of merchant seafarers, who make up more than half of the dead. Their ships sail through waters that the conflict has made dangerous, and the ministry’s counts have been the main source of information for relatives back home. The News On AIR report did not give a figure for the injured or missing, and the ministry’s full briefing transcript was not available at the time of writing.
How the Count Has Moved Since July
The conflict began on 28 February 2026. On 17 July, Jaiswal told a briefing that 14 Indian seafarers had been killed and two were missing, IANS reported. On 31 July, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh told the Rajya Sabha that 16 Indian nationals, including 10 seafarers, had died in the Middle East and 75 had been injured, Deccan Chronicle reported. That reply listed deaths in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq and the UAE, and counted 12 deaths in an accident at the Ras Laffan gas facility in Qatar separately.
Also read Dammam Airport Attack: One Indian Killed, Two Injured in Saudi Arabia
The three sets of figures do not use the same categories, so the 22 announced on 28 October cannot be compared line by line with the earlier numbers. The ministry has not published a country-wise breakdown for the new total.
No Date Yet for a Fresh Count
The ministry holds regular media briefings, and further updates are likely to come from there or from replies in Parliament when it next sits. Until the ministry releases a detailed list, the 22 figure rests on the spokesperson’s statement alone.
Source: Based on reporting by News On AIR, IANS and Deccan Chronicle. More from the desk: Daily Updates.
Image: News On AIR.
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