India Halts New Seafarer Deployments Through Strait of Hormuz but Thousands Remain in Region

India's Directorate General of Shipping ordered shipowners, ship managers and recruitment companies on July 15 not to deploy Indian seafarers on vessels that pass through the Strait of Hormuz until further notice. The regulator cited the heightened security situation in the Persian Gulf region as the reason for the order.

It directed masters of vessels to maintain vigilance in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and adjoining waters while continuously monitoring navigational warnings.

Two Indian seafarers were killed in attacks on vessels in the region over the three days preceding July 16, according to government data reported by Reuters. New Delhi summoned Iran's deputy ambassador on July 14 to lodge a strong protest over one of the deaths. India is the world's third-largest supplier of seafarers, with more than 300,000 sailors working across global shipping fleets.

More than 15,000 Indian seafarers remain stranded west of the Strait of Hormuz, said Manoj Yadav, general secretary of the Forward Seamen's Union of India. "We can stop the new sets of crews from joining in those areas. But what about those thousands of seafarers who are still trapped in those deadly seas and under the threat to their lives?

Yadav told Reuters.