Local residents and fishermen said planes from the Saudi-led coalition struck two boats at al-Khokha -- a small port near Hodeidah in western Yemen used by Indians to smuggle badly needed fuel supplies into the country-- killing 20 of them.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs, too, said it has no information about the reports. “We are ascertaining the facts about the reports,” MEA spokesman Vikas Swarup said, the Associated Press reported.
The Indian Embassy in Yemen was shut down in April after evacuation of its nationals.
The Saudi-led coalition, made up mainly of Persian Gulf Arab countries, has increased airstrikes on Yemen’s capital Sana’a and other parts of the country since Friday, when a Houthi missile attack killed at least 60 Saudi, Bahraini and United Arab Emirates soldiers at a military camp east of Sana’a.
Friday’s attack was the deadliest yet for Persian Gulf soldiers in the war and may herald a turning point as Saudi-allied countries appear to be committing to a ground war they had so far avoided.
Qatari-owned Al Jazeera TV reported that the number of forces deployed by the coalition had risen to 10,000.