Tehran / New Delhi: All 23 crew members of the seized British oil tanker "Stena Impero" are "safe and in good health," the head of the Ports and Maritime Organisation of Iran told Iranian state TV on Sunday.
Despite being escorted by a British warship, the oil tanker was stopped on Friday by Iran and was led to the coastal harbour for a legal investigation, Xinhua news agency reported Iran's IRNA news agency as saying.
The tanker has crew members of Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino nationalities aboard.
Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) seized the British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz for what it called "failing to respect the international maritime rules while passing through the strait."
Britain sais they are considering several options in response to Iran's seizure of the tanker. Meanwhile, a new footage broadcast on state TV shows that the Iranian flag has been hoisted over seized British oil tanker Stena Impero.
Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday urged the Centre to take all possible efforts to secure the release of Indian nationals including four Keralites on board a British-flagged oil tanker seized by the Gulf country in the Strait of Hormuz.
In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, he asked the ministry to share the details of the persons aboard the ship so that their families could be helped.