Caught in the crossfire
Although the ceasefire is welcome news, the situation for seafarers in the Gulf remains volatile. Thousands are still trapped and supplies of food and water are running low…
Seafarer Dalip Singh was just 25 and had been at sea only two years when his life was cut short on the first night of the conflict in the Gulf.
A missile struck the side of the ship where Dalip was on watch in the engine room.
This war had nothing to do with him. He was simply doing his job.
Sailors’ Society’s trained crisis team is now supporting the family, who are utterly devastated.
Dalip joined his ship in January. His family said he loved sailing and was delighted to be on board with another young seafarer from the same village in India.
This young man was on the shift before Dalip; he survived along with most of the terrified crew. But Dalip and his Captain perished when the ship burst into flames, just off the coast of Oman.
“Coastguard rescued the crew, but Dalip could not be seen, “ said his cousin Debendra, who is looking after the family and liaising with the authorities.
“The Captain’s remains were found, but nothing of Dalip has been recovered. The family are struggling to cope without his body.
“His mother is in a very bad way. She fell sick and was in hospital. For a long time, she was not eating. His father is also in a bad state of health.
“We are very grateful to have Sailors’ Society beside us at this time.”
Dalip Singh
Over the past few weeks, our crisis team has been supporting distraught families and frightened crews who have found themselves caught up in this conflict.
Parents who have been unable to get hold of their son on board a ship in Iran reached out for help. They have been trying to contact him since the war began and are frantic.
Will you help us stand beside crews and families who need us all over the world?
£20 could help pay our helpline costs for a morning
£55 could help pay for counselling sessions
£75 could help provide welfare grants for seafarers and their families
And the conflict has had other consequences.
For the past nine months, we have been supporting the families of an Indian crew arrested and jailed in Iran after their ship was seized over alleged oil smuggling.
The families and the 17 seafarers were ecstatic when they were cleared recently. But now the process of freeing and repatriating them has ground to a halt. They remain behind bars in a war zone and everyone is scared.
Tens of thousands of seafarers are caught up in this chaos. We have all seen the horrifying pictures on the news of ships on fire. The Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil route, has become a battleground with innocent and frightened crews paying the price.
One British seafarer has just arrived in UAE from Qatar and wrote this in one of our Peer-to-Peer Support Groups:
“It’s not a very easy feeling seeing rockets flying around the sky, but I need to earn a living, so I have to stay for now.
“We’ve seen rockets going up and intercepting drones in Qatar, quite close to where we were, on numerous occasions.”
We have also heard from the wife of a seafarer in one of our family groups. Due to the situation in the Middle East, her husband’s sign-off to return home has been postponed ‘until further notice’.
The ripples of a conflict like this spread across the globe and seafarers across the maritime industry need our help.
Sailors’ Society’s circle of care looks after seafarers throughout their careers, through our 24/7 helpline, our proactive Ship Connect service that sees us calling crews regularly, wellness training helping them look after themselves and one another and peer support that enables them to seek advice and support from those who understand exactly what they are going through.
Please consider donating towards our work today, helping fund the services seafarers and their families so desperately need, now and into the future.
From everyone at Sailors’ Society and all the seafarers and families we support – thank you.
Donate TODAY
How much would you like to give?
could help pay our helpline costs for a morning
could help pay for counselling sessions
could help provide welfare grants for seafarers and their families
Images used are for illustrative purposes only.
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