Hormuz closure piles misery on stranded sailors

DAMMAM: The publication of a new map by Iran asserting its control over the Strait of Hormuz risks extending an already punishing ordeal for thousands of mariners trapped on ships in the Gulf. More than 20,000 sailors are stuck on around 2,000 vessels in the Gulf, many of them unable to leave ship, lacking adequate supplies of food and fresh water, and fearful of an uncertain future at sea in a war zone. Sailors interviewed in recent weeks have described the hardships and anxieties of their experience, and a federation representing them warned of dire conditions. “The only thing we do here is plan how to spend the night and pray to God that we do not get hit during an attack,” Indian sailor Salman Siddiqui said by phone from his stranded ship last month. Isolated lives When a journalist travelled on a resupply boat to vessels moored off the Saudi coast this week, sailors on a tanker gathered by the handrail to wave, a rare moment of contact with the outside world. For nearly three months, the sailors trapped in the Gulf have led isolated lives, each with a small group of shipmates, moving between tiny living quarters, communal dining areas and scorching, sun-baked decks. The Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a body Iran has set up to manage requests for passage, published a map this week reaffirming Tehran’s claims to a wide stretch of water either side of the choke point. Ship owners seeking to extricate their vessels — and often precious cargoes — must navigate a labyrinthine system of payments and permissions set up by Iran. “Seafarers’ vulnerability and exposure is more, let’s say, extreme because of the war,” said Mohamed Arrachedi, network coordinator for the Arab World and Iran at the International Transport Workers Federation. He described cases where there had been pay delays, refusals to help repatriate sailors, a lack of provisions and the fear of missiles and drone strikes. Some seafarers called him in tears, he said. The ITF has been contacted by more than