New York City, Sept. 26 -- India and Liberia have launched an international coalition on maritime safety in response to "unacceptable attacks on commercial shipping and merchant marines", external affairs minister S Jaishankar announced on Friday. The grouping - named "Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers" - met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's High-Level Week in New York. India has the second-largest number of merchant navy sailors deployed worldwide while Liberia has the most number of ships registered under a nation's flag. "From the Black Sea to the Red Sea to the Gulf, attacks on civilian shipping have become a growing cause of concern. These actions that disrupt maritime commerce and cost innocent lives are simply indefensible," Jaishankar said at a joint press conference with Liberian foreign minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti. Jaishankar pointed to the death of an Indian sailor in an attack on the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged carrier MV Cape Dove in the Gulf of Oman just two days prior. He added that these hostile incidents have spanned from the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf to the Red Sea and the Black Sea, emphasising that there is no justification for them. Jaishankar called on the international community to "close ranks and deter such attacks". He pointed to India's record in catalysing international action to ensure their safety including at the Brics Summit earlier this month. "Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi proposed establishing a seafarers emergency support network which could connect the maritime authorities and embassies of the countries concerned and facilitate distress alerts, medical alerts, communication with family and support for evacuations where needed," he added. The Union minister added that the case of seafarers necessitated closer international cooperation given the fact that these individuals often worked on shipping flagged in countries different from their own nationality. The proposal for a new grouping to handle issues related to maritime safety and the protection seafarers comes against this backdrop. The grouping, Jaishankar said, would include countries including major ship owning nations, countries with the largest number of ship registries and those providing the largest number of seafarers. Liberian foreign minister Nyanti stated, "India and Liberia, together, we are the picture of what goes across our waters every day and night. When Liberia's regulatory reach meets India's maritime workforce, our shared responsibility to the global commons becomes undeniable."...