Nearly 18,000 Indian Mariners Remain Trapped in Persian Gulf Region

India's commercial shipping ministry said this week that nearly 18,000 Indian mariners remain in the Persian Gulf region, where more than 18,000 sailors are stuck across multiple countries. About 600 vessels remain trapped in the Persian Gulf, according to business intelligence firm Kpler.

Shipping companies expect it to take weeks if not months for normal traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to resume.

The narrow strait is the only way in or out of the Gulf. U.S. have detained and attacked commercial vessels accused of transgressing regulations imposed on the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters during the 109-day war.

At least 14 commercial mariners have died during the war. U.S. strike on an Iranian tanker last week. A fourth Indian mariner, Second Officer Nishanth Uirthanathan, died on board the MT Celestial Sea tanker on June 11.

Uirthanathan's body remained on board the MT Celestial Sea for three days without refrigeration, according to Manoj Yadav, general secretary of the Forward Seamen's Union of India. U.S. Blockade. U.S. Central Command said at the time. U.S. on June 9. CENTCOM has disabled nine ships for failing to comply with its blockade and turned back 135 ships, it said.

Conditions on ships around the Gulf were unbearable last week. Many mariners called and said they are not able to sail further, Yadav told CBS News in a Monday phone interview. Many mariners expressed they are feeling like they are in jail.

Some Indian nationals have managed to abandon their ships near enough to Iranian ports to make their way back to India by land, albeit without their wages, Yadav said. The union has demanded that the United Nations investigate the strike on the Marivex.