WAR'S HUMAN COST AT SEA
Families left in the dark as ships, crews vanish in Strait of Hormuz
DINDIGUL, India — V. Pandiselvi, the mother of Indian sailor Naveen Kumar, has not heard from her son for more than six months.
Yet, she still clings to hope he will return, crying as she replays old voice messages.
Kumar was one of six crew members assigned to work on two Iran-linked cargo vessels last seen in Iranian waters in May before disappearing. The vessels' fate is still unclear.
Commercial ships have come under fire since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began Feb. 28. Tehran attacked ships to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. in turn struck Iran-linked ships to impose a blockade on Iranian ports.
The United Nations' International Maritime Organization confirmed 130 "incidents" — mainly attacks — in the region since the conflict began, with at least 25 seafarers killed.
"We cannot bear this pain," Pandiselvi, 45, said as she struggled to keep her composure in her one-bedroom house in the city of Dindigul in southern India's Tamil Nadu state. "You don't need anyone to tell you what a parent would go through if they were to lose their child. We appeal to everyone involved to please come forward and help us."
Reuters spoke to shipping sources, Iraqi officials and the families of missing sailors in Iraq's Basra and India's Tamil Nadu state to reveal the human cost of Hormuz attacks.
The 23-year-old Kumar's family took out about $16,000 in loans for him to complete a marine course and pursue his dream of working as a sailor, after which he left for a 6-month crew contract he was told was based in Dubai. A week in, he found himself in Iran, to his family's consternation.
The family is now struggling with the financial burden.
"We worked tirelessly to secure our children's careers and future," Pandiselvi said. "Now, seeing everything that has happened, we are left wondering what our lives have come to."
'Every minute is agony'
Even before war broke out three months later, Kumar's family was desperately trying to repatriate him. Then came radio silence.
"My mental condition had deteriorated into madness, I sent desperate messages," Pandiselvi said, adding she sent him voice messages without any replies to a number she saved as "Naveen Mariner" with an anchor emoji.
The family keeps the line active in hope their son picks up. A neighbor described her as listening to messages over and over, in tears.
"A terrifying question mark hangs over his fate: Is he still on that ship, or has something terrible happened to him? It's causing a lot of confusion. Every passing minute is agony," Pandiselvi said.
Kumar was deployed to the vessels Bridge 1 and Bridge 2, which disappeared around May 9. The two ships were not on the IMO's list of incidents.
Iraq said in May it was monitoring the disappearance of the two vessels, which flew the Bolivian flag. No distress signals were received. Persian Gulf ports requested information after communications with the crew were lost.
Khaled Saad al-Thaalibi, who heads the Iraqi maritime foundation in Basra, told Reuters the latest available information indicated the vessels' Automatic Identification System transmitted their last known position about 8 nautical miles from Iran's Kish Island at 4:50 p.m. May 9.
"We called the agent in Iran but he told us that he knew nothing about the incident and on the following day the Iranian search and rescue tried to look for the vessels but they found nothing," Thaalibi told Reuters. "We don't know if the vessels sunk or were confiscated by a country."
The other Bridge 1 and 2 crew members missing are three Iraqis, one Pakistani and another Indian.
Sources familiar with the matter said the vessels were involved in Iranian trade and carried steel.
No answers
Haider Rahman al-Mayahi, 22, an Iraqi sailor, was among the crew, his brother Youssef Rahman said.
"He left behind a 1-year-old daughter and a father who suffered a stroke from the grief of his disappearance," Youssef Rahman said, breaking into tears.
Al-Mayahi's family traveled to Iran seeking answers. They found the vessels' owner, whom they identified only as an Iranian who told them he had no information on the vessels.
The family received conflicting theories about the vessels. Some shipping sources said they may have been struck by the U.S. and sunk immediately while others speculated the crew was detained by a Gulf state or Iran.
The Iranian agent who hired the Iraqi sailors did not respond to phone calls from Reuters.
Kumar's family contacted the agency that hired him, Mumbai-based firm Lascar Marine, and initially received assurances that he would return soon. People from the agency later told the family they had no information. After that, calls went unanswered, the family said.
The agency did not reply to repeated calls from Reuters.
An order dated May 22, published on a government website, showed India's Seamen's Employment Office withdrew the recruitment license of Lascar Marine Services and barred its past and present directors from maritime business for five years, citing repeated failures to repatriate seafarers — including Kumar — or pay their wages.
Ship crew members usually are contracted by agents like Lascar Marine and hired on 6-month contracts. Since the Iran war began, the costs of hiring sailors tripled, with many working just one journey as risks mount.
One Dubai-based shipper told Reuters a crew member may make what they used to make in seven months in only two, then opt to go home. A captain could make about $8,000 to $13,000 a month before the conflict; now, they can earn three times that.
"They ask for three months' pay per month," the shipper said, "but after seeing what a journey entails they sometimes quit after one trip."
