Indian sailors’ SOS: ‘Company asking us to risk lives, cross Strait of Hormuz’

Indian sailors aboard a ship in the Persian Gulf have sent out an SOS video alleging that their employer is telling them to transit the Strait of Hormuz despite the security risks and put their lives in danger. The SOS video was sent on a day reports said that Iran is ready to escalate tensions in the chokepoint as talks with the U.S. to end the conflict have stalled.

In a video posted on X by the Forward Seamen’s Union of India (FSUI), the master of AM Pioneer, a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel, Anil Raj said that the ship went to Ras Al Khaimah Port in the UAE last month for a survey.

“The company told us that we have to cross the Hormuz Strait to India when the (Strait of) Hormuz is open for the entire ships and it is very safe to navigate. Now, from last week, the company is forcing us to cross through Hormuz and go to Fujairah,” said Mr. Raj.

The ship’s master said that the “company is putting the blame on me, saying that I am misguiding the crew officers of this vessel against the company.”

The video then pans to show the crew standing behind Mr. Raj, who said that the company “tried to arrange one security and requested the Americans to give us air support to pass through Hormuz.”

The ship’s master said that “the company is trying to push us through Hormuz in a crooked way and put our lives in danger.”

The ship’s second engineer, who did not identify himself, appears in the video saying, “When Hormuz opens for all the ships that time, I can agree to pass.”

Another crew member added that when they joined the company, “they told us to keep the vessel ready and sail only when Hormuz is ready (safe).”

“But now we are being forced. We want our life safe and we will not cross Hormuz till it is safe (to do so),” he said.

According to ship-monitoring website Equasis, AM Pioneer is managed by Alphard Maritime Private Limited, a Mumbai-based company. It is an offshore supply vessel that transports equipment, crew, and essential supplies to offshore oil and gas platforms.

In its post on X, FSUI said that the shipowners and managers of AM Pioneer are “pressuring the Master to force its 16 Indian crew to transit the high-risk Strait of Hormuz”.

“The crew has clearly refused. They will not put their lives in danger. They will not sail under dark conditions with communications switched off. No seafarer should risk death for owners’ profits or convenience,” the association said.