NEW DELHI, June 10 -- The distress call wasted no words. "We have fire on board and vessel is sinking," the crew of the MT Marivex transmitted from the Gulf of Oman on Monday. "US Navy attack, the missile on our engine room. We have hole at the bottom. 24 crew. All crew Indian. Please help quickly."

The men were identifying their attacker while their ship burned under them. Their government, three days later, has yet to do the same.

The American account is not in dispute. US Central Command said an F/A-18 Super Hornet flying from the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln "fired a precision munition into the ship's engineering and steering spaces" after the tanker failed to comply with instructions, part of the blockade Washington has thrown aroun...