Aug 03, 2026 12:57 pm IST

Opinion | 17 Dead, 166 Trapped: How Indian Seafarers Became 'Collateral' In Others' Wars

India is now the second-largest supplier of seafarers in the world, contributing 311,936 personnel. But that also means that they are among the easiest targets during war.

Naresh Kaushik Naresh Kaushik Columnist

Naresh Kaushik Columnist

The Russia-Ukraine war has intensified over the past two weeks, killing more than two dozen people and destroying energy infrastructure, buildings, and ships. Five Indian seamen also died in attacks on ships in the Black Sea, and two others remain missing. Thirteen Indian seafarers have been stranded aboard MV AMIR1 in a Black Sea port in Ukraine for a week, under the continuing threat of missile and drone attacks, according to the All India Seafarers Union (AISU). Although Kyiv has blamed Moscow for the stranded Indian sailors, a few days back, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned the Ukrainian ambassador over an attack on a ship on July 18 that killed one Indian. A week earlier, the Russian envoy was summoned after four Indians were killed in an attack on a cargo ship near the port of Odesa.

In addition to the five deaths in the Black Sea, at least 16 Indians, including 10 seafarers, have been killed in attacks on ships in the Middle East since the start of the Iran war, the government told Parliament last week. Seventeen seafarers have so far lost their lives, of whom more than half were Indian. These sailors have come under attack from both Iranian and American forces. Attacks on commercial ships are illegal under international law, but that hasn't stopped the warring parties in the Black Sea and the Persian Gulf from targeting them, creating one of the worst international shipping crises in history.

At least 6,000 seafarers remain trapped on more than 400 ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Of them, 166 are Indians, according to the MEA, though AISU says their number is much higher. At the height of the war in March, there were 20,000 sailors on 2,000 ships. After the ceasefire in April and the US-Iran MoU in June, brief reopenings reduced their number. The sailors still stuck there describe their plight as even worse than the Covid-19 pandemic days, because, despite being trapped at sea for months, they were not facing missile and drone attacks during the pandemic.

Disproportionate Indian Casualties

It's true that many more Iranian sailors have died since the conflict began at the end of February. Eighty-four were killed by a US torpedo strike in the Indian Ocean in........

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