About 2,000 ships and roughly 20,000 seafarers are stranded in the Persian Gulf after the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed to shipping amid the war with Iran, the United Nations reports.
Damien Chevallier, Director of the UN International Maritime Organization's Maritime Safety Division, called the stranding unprecedented and said the IMO has urged deescalation; there have been 19 attacks on civilian ships in the Gulf, killing ten and injuring eight.
Crew report sleep deprivation and fear of drone and missile strikes on crew quarters, while many ships face shortages of food, water and fuel; the IMO is arranging resupply with companies in Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Hans Cacdac, secretary of the Philippines' Department of Migrant Workers, said seafarers can refuse to sail through conflict zones and are entitled to two months' wages and repatriation, but it is unclear whether those protections apply to those stranded; ownership and registration splits create legal gray areas.
Read the full article at jalopnik.com.
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