Helplines buzz with alerts from seafarers trapped in war

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Seafarers’ helplines say they are overwhelmed with messages from crews stuck in the Gulf by the Middle East war, desperately seeking repatriation, compensation and onboard supplies.

“Writing to urgently inform you that our vessel is currently facing a critical situation regarding provisions and one crew health conditions,” read an email from one seafarer on 24 March to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)’s Seafarer Support team.

“Immediate supply of food, drinking water, basic necessities is required to sustain the crew,” said the message to the team’s helpline.

The ITF said it had received more than 1,000 emails and messages from seafarers stuck around the Strait of Hormuz and the wider region since the war erupted with United States-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February.

Bomb strikes

Some sought to clarify what their rights are while navigating a war zone, while others sent videos of bombings striking next to their ship and asked the federation for help to get off board, according to ITF documents seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“It is an extraordinary situation, there is a lot of panic,” Mohamed Arrachedi, ITF’s Network Coordinator for the Arab World and Iran, in charge of handling requests from seafarers in the region, told AFP, describing the situation as “really shocking.”

“I get calls from seafarers at two o’clock, three o’clock in the morning. They call me the minute they have access to the internet,” Arrachedi said on Wednesday by telephone from Spain.

“One seafarer called in a panic, saying: ‘We are here bombed. We don’t want to die. Please help me, sir. Please get us from here.”

About 20,000 seafarers are currently stuck in the Gulf, according to the United Nations’ maritime body, known as the IMO, and at least eight seafarers or dock workers have died in incidents in the region since 28 February.

All correspondence was shared with AFP on condition of anonymity, as the helpline guarantees confidentiality to seafarers.

Make a caricature of a sleepy telephone hotline operator receiving calls from his headset and computer station in the office labeled ITF Helpline. A clock on the wall reads 2 a.m. London time. A thought balloon shows a sailor opening an empty refrigerator. Another though balloon shows a sailor pointing to a missile piercing through the ship’s hull.