The ABC has gathered personal accounts from those sailors, and spoken directly to some of them, to paint a picture of the plight faced by the 20,000 trapped seafarers.<\/p>\n
‘Please help us’<\/p>\n
As many of the sailors said they were not allowed by their companies to speak or share images, the ABC has changed their names to protect their identities.<\/p>\n
“Earlier at dawn, there was a wave of anti-missiles that really passed overhead,” one of the estimated 7,000 Filipino sailors told the ABC.<\/p>\n
“By the grace of God, no projectile hit the ship or anywhere near our ship.”<\/p>\n
Since the start of the war, 10 sailors have been killed in attacks targeting 21 vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz, according to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).<\/p>\n
But Iranian attacks are not the only threat. Access to supplies and medical care has also been disrupted.<\/p>\n
“Our company has no advice, for now. We just have to endure. We still have our supplies, and our captain said our food here will last until May. I just don’t know if the water for bathing will still last,” the Filipino sailor said.<\/p>\n
In texts shared with the Forward Seamen’s Union of India (FSUI), one sailor pleaded to be saved.<\/p>\n
“Many are facing shortage of food, water and bunker,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Continuous missile attacks are taking place \u2014 please help us.”Loading<\/p>\n
The risk to crews on oil and gas tankers is especially high due to the flammability of the cargo.<\/p>\n
Scenes of an inferno engulfing two fuel tankers attacked by explosive-laden boats, in the second week of the war, are a sobering reminder of the perils that sailors in the Gulf are facing, according to International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) general secretary Stephen Cotton.<\/p>\n
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“We’re talking about a tanker that’s loaded with crude oil that has just been hit \u2026 the potential for an enormous, devastating incident with a massive loss of life is quite high,” he said.<\/p>\n
“And, of course, they’ve been living with that for five weeks now.”<\/p>\n
In an email to the ITF, seen by the ABC, one sailor described how their crew was being forced to stay in the Gulf as the owners and operators of the vessel said they were unable to provide alternative routes to leave, such as via flights.<\/p>\n
“They can’t help us, it’s totally dependent on operations and owners,” the sailor wrote.<\/p>\n
“When it comes to owners, they are forcing us to continue to do cargo operations and STS [ship-to-ship transfers] even [though] we raise our concerns about our safety and we are in war-like area.”<\/p>\n
Mr Cotton said the sailors were effectively trapped on the “front line” of the conflict, and Iran’s arsenal of drones and other guerilla tactics<\/a> meant the situation was much more precarious than during previous wars.<\/p>\n “This is a different kind of warfare,” Mr Cotton said.<\/p>\n “Those days you could convoy and you could more or less protect the ships in the convoy \u2014 today \u2026 even with the most advanced missile defence systems, ships are still getting hit.”<\/p>\n Regime change in the Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n Iran and Oman, which border the northern and southern sides of the strait, have been drafting a protocol to “oversee transit through the Strait of Hormuz”, according to Iranian state media, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi.<\/p>\n The Oman-owned Dhalkut oil supertanker spotted on satellite imagery on April 2, 2026. (Supplied: Sentinel Hub)<\/p>\n Reports of those discussions coincided with the first two non-Iranian supertankers transiting the strait on April 2, along with the first known LNG tanker.<\/p>\n All three ships are Oman-owned, and the oil tankers have a capacity to carry about two million barrels of oil each.<\/p>\n The Dhalkut supertanker was carrying Saudi oil it had loaded on February 26, before the war started. The second supertanker, Habrut, was laden with oil from the UAE’s Zirku oil terminal.<\/p>\n Before the start of the war, most ships sailed through the middle of the strait. But in recent weeks, many vessels have been sailing further north near the Iranian coast and transiting via Iran’s “toll booth”<\/a>.<\/p>\n But tracking data and satellite imagery show that the Omani ships are following an unusual shipping route, hugging the Omani coast to transit the strait one after another.<\/p>\n Iran’s parliament has approved a bill to charge a fee to ships sailing in and out of the Persian Gulf, according to Iranian state media.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5dd9a88be43ba8084456e041e81dbbd6.jpeg\")
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