Captain Raman Kapoor was loading oil at the port of Iraq when information reached him that United States and Iran they were at war.
Within hours, his oil tanker was intercepted in the northern Strait of Hormuz with 24 crew members on board, as missiles began flying in the air.
“We were stuck inside a war zone and everyone was scared and didn’t know what to do,” Kapoor, 48, recalled. “We all felt so trapped. We were helpless, completely powerless.”
He and his crew would stay that way for 75 days.
The Strait of Hormuz – the narrow passage through which about a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas passed before the conflict – is now expected to reopen on Friday in less than 60 days. A memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iranand raised hopes that commercial shipping could resume.
For civilian sailors caught in trouble since US-Israel war against Iran started at the end of February, that is the reason for the relief of caution.
