About 6,000 seafarers remain trapped around the Strait of Hormuz, the head of the U.N. maritime agency said, as he condemned the latest U.S. and Iranian attacks that have further delayed their evacuation.
“These reckless attacks have again placed innocent seafarers in grave danger. No seafarer should have to risk their life simply for doing their job,” said Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization.
Global trade is powered by about 2 million seafarers, many of them from Asian countries, including India and the Philippines, who spend much of their time away from home. At the height of the Iran war in March, 20,000 seafarers were trapped on about 2,000 vessels, the agency said at the time.
“This is not simply a matter of shipping statistics. Behind the figures are seafarers, and in some cases their families, who continue to bear the human cost of this conflict,” Dominguez said yesterday. “Too many seafarers have tragically lost their lives in connection with this conflict.”