Indians are one of the largest workforces at sea, accounting for approximately 12.2 per cent of global seafarers. But when Iran made the Strait of Hormuz — which normally carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments — a battlefield after the United States and Israel launched attacks on February 28, Indian sailors became unsuspecting collateral damage in US President Donald Trump’s war of choice.
The incident involved a Panama-flagged container ship that was fired upon by Iranian boats amid an escalation of tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Now, the Indian sailors’ union has released an old video from April showing glimpses of horrors faced by Indian sailors when they came in the line of fire between the warring nations. The incident involved a Panama-flagged container ship that was fired upon by Iranian boats amid an escalation of tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. The footage shows the confrontation intensifying, including a rocket-propelled grenade being fired, as seafarers took cover inside the vessel. New Delhi later also lodged a strong protest with Iran, summoning its deputy ambassador over one of the deaths last month. Later, it also ordered shipowners, ship managers, and recruitment companies not to deploy the country’s seafarers on vessels undertaking trips through the Strait of Hormuz amid renewed fighting in the region.
The video, shared by The Forward Seamen’s Union of India (FSUI), captured a tense incident from April 22, where an Indian-crew-heavy vessel was surrounded by boats identified as belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
