Indian sailors fear returning to Gulf after Middle East war

Indian sailors who survived weeks stranded in the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran-U.S. war have finally returned home, but many say they are too afraid to go back to the Gulf. India is one of the world's largest suppliers of merchant sailors, sending hundreds of thousands of seafarers abroad each year. Thousands left the Gulf as fighting disrupted shipping, including more than 3,600 aided by India's shipping ministry.

Why are Indian sailors afraid to return to the Gulf?

Sailors say strikes on commercial vessels during the war left them traumatized, with some crew members killed or wounded. Attacks near the Strait of Hormuz targeted ships with Indian crews, and sporadic violence has continued despite an interim deal to end the fighting. Many now fear another escalation could put their lives at risk again.

Thirty-one-year-old Sitaram Tandel, from a fishing village in India's Gujarat state, saw the danger firsthand aboard a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier. In March, a sister vessel from his company, the crude tanker Safesea Vishnu, was struck, killing an Indian crew member. Weeks later, his own ship was hit.

"Our luck ran out," he said. "It was early morning, I was getting ready for my shift when we were struck." The crew escaped physically unharmed, but Tandel said the experience left the entire crew shaken. "I don't know what lies next. The attack has left me shaken and too scared to go back to the Gulf, but I also have a family to feed," he said.

How did the war disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz?

More than 320,000 Indian sailors were working in global merchant shipping in 2025, according to the shipping ministry. After initial U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, Tehran effectively blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, putting ships passing through the wider region at risk of becoming military targets.

In June, an American strike on a Palau-flagged vessel off Oman killed three Indian sailors. Separate attacks on two other Indian-majority crewed ships left dozens more in need of rescue. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later raised the strikes with U.S. President Donald Trump, urging him to ensure the safety of civilian mariners.

What did sailors experience while crossing the strait?

For crews still at sea, sailing through Hormuz meant taking extraordinary risks. Ratheesan Kuttiyan, 45, from India's southern Kerala state, joined a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel in March while it waited to depart the Gulf. "The previous crew refused to cross," he said. "We tried hard to cross, but the fighting was too intense, and another vessel from the company was attacked."

When hostilities eased, crew members were asked to sign documents confirming they were willing to make the voyage. "Finally, in the dead of the night we sailed through the danger zone," Kuttiyan said, speaking to AFP by phone at sea. He added that he would only return to the Gulf if the risk eases, saying he trusts his company to make the right call.

Haridas Puthiyakodi, 49, also from Kerala, was aboard a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship heading toward Hormuz when the vessel ahead came under attack. His ship turned back to Abu Dhabi. "I didn't tell my wife I was in the war zone," he said. "Now that she knows, she says I should never go to the Gulf. If I had my way, I wouldn't either, but as a seafarer, you have to sail everywhere."

Will Indian sailors return to the Gulf?

Some veterans say they are done with the route entirely. Tanel Hirenkumar Praveenbhai, 42, has spent more than two decades at sea and sailed through the Strait of Hormuz countless times, carrying oil from the Gulf to China and Singapore. He was among an estimated 20,000 seafarers stranded by the blockade after joining the crew of a Panama-flagged oil tanker in Dubai in February.

"Two days before we were about to head to Singapore, the war broke out," he said. "A helicopter crashed just 10 to 15 meters from our vessel, and several missiles also passed at a short distance." The crew was ordered not to move and remained at anchor for nearly three months.

Movement resumed only after the ceasefire, and the vessel left on May 29 via Dubai, where he signed off. "I am never going back to Hormuz again," he said. "No money is worth more than my life."