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'After what I've seen...': Amid Hormuz Strait blockade, a first-time seafarer takes a vow
"We don't have enough water on board right now. We got food a few days back," Pereira, an Indian sailor, was quoted as saying.
A young Indian sailor says he's been boiling water to drink, stuck aboard a small refuelling boat in the northern Gulf, within sight of the Iranian shore. He is among the handful of crew members who have not yet abandoned the vessel are making do with what they have. And that's less, each day, than the day before.
"We don't have enough water on board right now. We got food a few days back," Pereira, who asked to be identified only by his last name, told news agency AFP.
"Till yesterday we had proper drinking water and fresh water for baths and stuff. But now since drinking water is over, we have contacted the owner for the drinking water and I hope they get it by today or tomorrow. Till then, we are boiling the water for drinking," he further said, AFP reported on Friday, March 20. His situation is not unique.
He is one of at least 20,000 seafarers that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) estimates remain stranded on some 3,200 vessels west of the Strait of Hormuz.
They are caught in a maritime standstill that began when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28. Tehran retaliated by ordering its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to block commercial shipping through the strait, via which approximately one-fifth of the world's daily oil supply and a large share of its liquefied natural gas normally passes.
The closure has sent crude prices surging past $100 per barrel, and triggered emergency measures across the world, including in Pereira's home country India.
For the men and women on board the stranded vessels, the geopolitics is secondary for now. They have a more immediate calculus, about how long the food and water will last.
‘Starting with rationing’
A ship captain whose vessel is anchored off Qatar, near the major Ras Laffan LNG plant which was struck in an Iranian attack last week, described the arithmetic. He was briefly ashore in a crew rotation arrangement, while another master commanded his ship.
Asking not to be named so his vessel isn't identified, he said that of his original crew, 25 have already left, leaving 95 on board. "That would require a provision top-up every 10 to 15 days," the captain told AFP.
"Last week, we managed to load up with provisions and water, but will it be possible in one week from now?" he wondered aloud.
"We are starting with food and water rationing on board, just so we can stretch out the number of days we go with available resources in case food, water and fuel are unavailable," he said.
"If the port shuts down completely, then there is no possibility of getting the crew out. So that's one worry. Another worry is also about the food supplies, the water supplies and everything else that needs to be supplied to the crew," he added.
Pattern of distress calls
Jacqueline Smith, Marine Coordinator at the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), said the appeals from crew members had been mounting steadily over the past week.
"We have been receiving text messages from seafarers saying 'we're running low on provisions', 'we're running low on fuel', 'we're running low on water', 'we're running low on food'," she said, "This wasn't the case in the beginning, and that is going to just be increasing if there's no end in sight to the conflict."
Smith said the ITF had called on flag states — such as Panama and Liberia, which register large portions of the world's commercial fleet — to issue guidance to shipowners and organise repatriation of crew to teir home countries.
"I hope that governments will start coordinating their approach to it when it comes to the welfare of the seafarers," she said.
She added a note about types of ship owners.
"Employers did say that they have not had any issues ordering provisions, so the seafarers that have contacted us must be on vessels with unserious employers," she opined. The IMO has confirmed that at least eight seafarers or dock workers have died in incidents in the region since the conflict began.
On Thursday, the IMO sent out a public call for the creation of a safe shipping corridor in the Gulf, specifically to permit the evacuation of stranded seafarers and vessels.
Japan, Panama, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates have urged the IMO to help establish a framework for the safe evacuation of seafarers and ships stranded in the Gulf.
Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands declared they were ready “to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz”.
Some of these countries were approached by US President Donald Trump to send their navy ships to militarily reopen the Strait of Hormuz; but they've declined that type of involvement.
'I won't be coming to sea again'
For Pereira, this trip was his first as a seafarer. He boarded his vessel off Iraq last November. His job is to help refuel oil tankers passing through the Gulf. He said he has spent the weeks since the war started trying to reach the Indian diplomatic mission for help getting out.
Five of his eight fellow crew members — all Iraqis — departed for home when fighting broke out, leaving Pereira and two others behind.
"Since the attacks started, there's a lot of panic. And even our families have been panicking," he said.
Most vessels appear to be holding their positions outside the Strait of Hormuz, with thousands of seafarers stranded in adjacent waters.
Iran has allowed selective passage to a handful of vessels from countries including India, Pakistan and Turkey, with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi saying Tehran had been "approached by a number of countries" seeking safe passage, and that it was “up to our military to decide”.
For sailors like Pereira, rationing boiled water off the Iraqi coast, the diplomatic manoeuvring feels distant. "We just want to leave and go home," he said, “I won't be coming to sea again after what I've seen now. This first trip has been really horrible.”
Situation report from Strait of Hormuz
- 23 incidents: Since March 1, 2026, 23 commercial vessels, including 11 tankers, have been attacked or reported incidents in the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz or the Gulf of Oman, according to the British naval maritime security agency UKMTO.
- 8 killed: Since the conflict began, at least eight seafarers or dock workers have died in incidents in the region, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). A further four remain missing and 10 were injured.
- 95% drop: The water channel typically sees around 120 daily transits, according to shipping industry intelligence site Lloyd's List, cited by AFP. From March 1 to 19, commodities carriers made just 116 crossings, according to analytics firm Kpler. That's a decrease of 95%. Of these, 71 were by oil tankers and gas carriers and most were travelling east out of the strait.
- 20,000 stranded: That's the number of seafarers; then there are cruise ship passengers, port workers and offshore crews affected in the region, according to the IMO. The IMO estimates at least 3,200 vessels are currently there, up to two thirds of them "large commercial vessels engaged in international commerce".
