India and Liberia announced the creation of a “group of friends” on the safety and security of shipping and seafarers, on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), according to The Hindu.

India’s Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, called attacks on civilian shipping “simply indefensible”, cited repeated attacks in the Gulf, the Red Sea and surrounding waters, and pointed to two recent cases: an attack two days earlier on an Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier in the Gulf of Oman that killed an Indian sailor, and an attack ten days earlier on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz that left a crew member missing, according to Firstpost.