Seafarers Under Threat: Indian Sailors’ Union Urges Indian Prime Minister to Deploy Naval Escorts

NEW DELHI, Sept 24:  India’s Forward Seamen’s Union has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deploy naval escorts for Indian crews operating in and around the Strait of Hormuz following the death of an Indian sailor in an attack on a cargo vessel off Oman.

In a letter to Modi on Wednesday, the union identified the sailor as Suraj Yadav, 26, from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh. Yadav was working as a wiper aboard the MV Cape Dao, which was sailing from Mina Saqr in the United Arab Emirates to India.

According to the union, the vessel was struck twice on its port side: once near the crew accommodation and once near the engine room. It said 20 of the ship’s 28 crew members were Indian and that the Royal Navy of Oman evacuated the survivors.

“Our sons who move the world’s trade must not be slaughtered in silence,” the union said in its appeal to the Indian prime minister.

The union called for Yadav’s body to be repatriated to India and sought compensation for his family. It also urged the government to establish a national crisis management team to provide round-the-clock assistance to Indian seafarers affected by security incidents.

It further called for naval escorts and rapid-response arrangements for Indian sailors aboard both Indian-flagged and foreign-flagged vessels operating in the Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and Black Sea.

The appeal comes amid heightened security concerns for commercial shipping in waters surrounding the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman