Manila (AFP) – Filipino sailor George Miranda was racing to help a stricken vessel aboard the tugboat Mussafah 2 when he last spoke to his wife and young daughter. The 46-year-old, whose small ship was struck by a pair of missiles this week in the Strait of Hormuz, is the only seafarer from the Philippines known to be missing in the Middle East war, the government says.
But more than 6,000 others from the country that supplies a quarter of the world’s sailors are still working in the conflict zone and “surrounding areas,” many waiting for the green light to pass through the now-deadly shipping lane. A series of Iranian strikes have effectively closed the strait, which carries 20 percent of world oil and gas supplies, plunging the global energy economy into crisis.
For John Winston Isidro, life aboard his VLCC, or Very Large Crude Carrier, has been marked by equal parts monotony and precaution since his ship began playing the waiting game. “The crew stopped working above deck, and we installed a double watch on the bridge,” the 32-year-old told AFP, describing off-hours spent scrolling Facebook, playing computer games, and watching the occasional movie. That routine was becoming normal, he said, though the engine crew was being kept on standby, ready to “fire up our engines” in case of emergency.
Welbin Maghanoy, whose ship was carrying crude oil bound for Japan, had been stranded for nine days when he spoke to AFP. “It’s getting boring, and I’m a little scared, because there are many ships being attacked, mostly oil tankers like ours,” he said from a vessel located 100 nautical miles off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. “Those whose contracts are about to end…they really want to go home,” he said of his fellow sailors.
Judy Domingo, president of the 50,000-strong United Filipino Seafarers union, told AFP she had taken hundreds of calls from concerned sailors bottled up in the strait, with food supplies one of the immediate concerns. “There are also members expressing their desire to leave the ship. But of course, we cannot get them out of there immediately. We have to consider their location and a safe port for them to disembark,” Domingo said.
One stranded Philippine sailor who has been posting online videos of his experiences under the name Choi described a vote in which the crew was asked if they wanted to risk passage through the strait, where traffic has slowed to a trickle. “Our captain gathered us in the conference room to ask us who wanted to pass through,” he said in a video posted to Facebook and verified by AFP Fact Check. “We chose to go home alive,” he said. “There are 27 of us. Almost everyone said they refused to sail.”
Isidro, the VLCC sailor, said he was happy his crew had not been consulted about the decision to stay put. “Our captain will not risk our vessel’s safety…It’s too dangerous,” he said. “Let’s just pray this US-Iran war ends soon so every ship trapped here is able to get out safe.”
© 2024 AFP
