Still trapped in the Gulf as conflict rages around the Straits of Hormuz, the nightmare seems never-ending for seafarers caught up in this ongoing crisis.
Many crews are experiencing trauma unlike anything they have ever faced before.
“Your brain starts to shut off when you see bombings and missiles every day,” one seafarer explained. “I speak to my family every day, but I don’t tell them how bad the situation is. There is nothing they can do.”
Others are now rationing drinking water, cut off from help and sending desperate messages over the radio into the darkness.
After finally receiving permission to cross the Strait, one captain told us his crew believed they were finally going to safety. Then armed men in speedboats surrounded their vessel and opened fire. A bullet smashed through the bridge window. “We all ducked down,” said the Chief Engineer. “Glass shattered across the bridge and we were all really shaken up.”
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. He was on watch in the engine room when a missile struck his ship. Dalip and his Captain perished when the ship burst into flames. His body has never been recovered. The shock of his loss led to the death of his father just weeks later.
Sailors’ Society’s trained Crisis Response Network is now supporting his mother and the rest of his family, who are utterly devastated by this tragedy.
“We are very grateful to have Sailors’ Society beside us at this time.” said his cousin Debendra
Throughout this crisis, Sailors’ Society’s 24/7 Crisis Response Network has been supporting scared crews and anxious families – listening, talking, praying and helping them endure the unimaginable.
“Sailors’ Society is helping us a lot and has given us new hope to carry on. We can open our hearts to them.”
These seafarers are the people who keep global trade moving. They are fathers, mothers, sons and daughters caught in a conflict not of their making.
“This is not our war. We have simply become part of it and we want to go home.”
Sailors’ Society has been there for them and their loved ones from the first day of the conflict and will continue to be by their side until the last – and for as long as trauma support or financial help is needed.
Far from home, carrying the weight of fear in silence, many feel abandoned and utterly alone.
Donations help provide urgent crisis support, emotional care and vital assistance to seafarers and their families wherever and whenever they need it most.
Please help ensure no seafarer faces fear and trauma alone.
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.
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could help pay our helpline costs for a morning
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Images used are for illustrative purposes only.
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