“He said he would be back soon. I never thought this was how he would come home,” said Patnala Bhargavi, whose husband, Indian sailor Patnala Suresh, was killed this week in a U.S. strike near the Gulf of Oman.
The couple had been preparing to mark their 15th wedding anniversary later this month. Instead, Bhargavi is now facing life without him.
Suresh was among three Indian crew members who died when the U.S. military hit the MT Settebello, an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, on Wednesday. Washington said the strike was part of its campaign to enforce a blockade on shipping linked to Iran. U.S. officials claimed the tanker was carrying Iranian oil and had ignored multiple warnings.
The vessel’s managers have rejected that version of events, saying the ship had no ties to Iran and was not warned before being struck. Another 21 crew members were rescued.
The deaths have shaken families across India, from Bhargavi’s home in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, to distant towns and villages where other sailors’ relatives are grieving. Many of them are now waiting for the bodies to be brought home and demanding clarity about what happened at sea.
India’s Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said in a post on X that efforts were being made to repatriate the sailors’ remains. He described their deaths as a deep loss for the country’s maritime community.
New Delhi has also formally protested to Washington, summoning a senior U.S. diplomat and urging an end to strikes on commercial vessels in the region.
For Bhargavi, though, the diplomatic dispute feels far removed from her immediate grief. Since the news arrived, relatives and neighbors have continued coming to the family home to offer condolences. In the middle of it all, she keeps replaying her final conversation with Suresh.
He had told her there had been attacks nearby and that some people had died, but he tried to reassure her. He said she should not worry, that he would return safely and that they would celebrate their anniversary together.
Now, surrounded by photos of Suresh and their two children, Bhargavi is struggling to understand how that promise ended in tragedy.
Suresh, 39, had worked at sea for about 15 years as a marine engineer and had traveled widely through his job. As chief engineer, he was entitled to six months of leave each year, but according to his father, Ramakrishna, he rarely used all of it.
His father said Suresh loved his profession and preferred spending much of his time aboard ships. Over the years, the family had grown used to his long absences, but they had always expected him to return.
