Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 1, 2026. REUTERS\/Stringer\/File Photo<\/p>\n
Trapped in Hormuz: Indian Sailors Describe Nights of Missiles, Fear, and Hunger<\/p>\n
MUMBAI, May 7 (Reuters)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Nightly explosions of drones and missiles terrified\u00a0Indian\u00a0sailor Tithi Chiranjeevi after his ship was stranded in Iran for more than a month by the<\/p>\n
blockade caused by the\u00a0Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cAround 10 to 20 missiles struck every night. No one could sleep,\u201d he told Reuters, describing conditions outside Iran\u2019s port of Khorramshahr on his return home last week, after an arduous 15-day journey through Iraq, Armenia, and Dubai.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old had spent the previous six months working on the Iranian ship Ilda, carrying construction material to Dubai.<\/p>\n
The vessel was one of 2,000 trapped in the vicinity of the 104-mile (17-km) waterway that normally carries a fifth of the world\u2019s supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).<\/p>\n
Violence in the region has killed at least three\u00a0Indian\u00a0seafarers so far. Before the conflict began in February, about 138 ships\u00a0passed through\u00a0the Strait each day, the Joint Maritime Information Centre says.<\/p>\n
As food ran out and communication links snapped, Chiranjeevi lost contact with his widowed mother at home in the southern port city of Visakhapatnam.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey (our families) were very concerned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A colleague, Anant Singh Chauhan, also worried whether he would be reunited with his parents, living in the town of Dewaria in India\u2019s northern state of Uttar Pradesh.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, we used to feel we won\u2019t be able to make it back home,\u201d said Chauhan, who returned along with Chiranjeevi.<\/p>\n
The South Asian nation is among the top three global suppliers of seafarers, government figures show, with a workforce 300,000-strong by September last year.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Indian\u00a0government says it has helped bring safely home about 3,000 sailors from the Gulf region, and at least 23 this week.<\/p>\n
Both men said they borrowed money at exorbitant rates from relatives and moneylenders to pay fees of 450,000 rupees ($4,800) each to secure jobs on international shipping routes.<\/p>\n
Despite running out of savings and facing mounting debt, Chauhan said he felt only relief on returning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is like a rebirth for us,\u201d he told Reuters in the financial capital of Mumbai, as he gazed at the city\u2019s Gateway of India monument and the Taj Mahal luxury hotel standing by the water\u2019s edge.<\/p>\n