Seafarers take cover as small boats surround vessel in Hormuz

The Federation of Seafarers and Indian Seafarers Union (FSUI) has released an old video showing a vessel carrying 22 crew members, including 21 Indians, coming under attack in the Strait of Hormuz on April 22. The footage shows several small boats surrounding the vessel, an RPG being fired and seafarers rushing to the ship’s alleyways to take cover as the confrontation unfolded. The union also released images showing crew members taking cover while the vessel was under attack.

“These were not pirates. They were naval forces of the IRGC,” the FSUI said in a post on X. The union added that the footage highlighted the risks faced by seafarers in the Strait of Hormuz, arguing that advisories and guidelines alone could not ensure their safety. “Innocent seafarers need the assured presence of naval forces to truly protect them,” the FSUI said. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) recently said 166 Indian seafarers remained in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz region, including 125 aboard six Indian-flagged vessels and 41 working on foreign-flagged ships.

In an update on August 4, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said 3,972 Indian seafarers had been repatriated from the Gulf region, highlighting the scale of the effort to bring them out of the conflict zone. India is the world’s second-largest supplier of seafarers after the Philippines, with 311,936 personnel accounting for 12.16 per cent of the global maritime workforce, according to the BIMCO-ICS Seafarer Workforce Report 2026. Indian officers account for 13.41 per cent of the global officer workforce, while 171,218 Indian ratings make up 11.29 per cent of the global ratings workforce. The large presence of Indian seafarers in the region has also resulted in casualties since the Iran war began. Last month, the MEA said Indian seafarers had recorded the highest number of fatalities among all nationalities in attacks on commercial shipping. The government later informed Parliament that 10 Indian seafarers were among the 16 Indian nationals killed in the Middle East conflict.