Fireballs in the sky, deafening missile and drone strikes tearing into ships nearby, and an overriding fear that his cargo vessel would be the next target.
Chief officer Ankit Goyal, 40, recalled how his ship shuddered as US and Israeli missiles struck the Iranian coast and ripped apart Iranian navy vessels off Bandar Abbas when the war began on February 28.
The experienced seafarer was aboard Manali, an empty Panama-flagged cargo vessel with 24 sailors from India, Bangladesh and Vietnam, when engine trouble caused it to drop anchor in the Strait of Hormuz on the day the war erupted.
“For exactly one month I was in the hot spot zone where all the strikes were going on,” Mr Goyal told The National. “It was all around me at sea, on land. I was three or four nautical miles away from the land and had maybe 40 ships around me including naval ships. We were near the strait and the Iranian coast.”
The horror that unfolded over the next 30 days drove his rugged crew to tears because, despite sending numerous distress messages, they could not leave the strait. The ship was among thousands of vessels caught up in the crucial passageway shut down by Iran and the US.
“I have never seen such things in my life, it was shocking. I have seen Second World War movies on television but here I was watching it in reality. It was like a horror show and it was happening every day.”
The sailors counted 17 ships destroyed and more than 30 attacks. The skies were cloudy with smoke from daily strikes. “Every time the fighter jets were coming over our head, we were thinking OK, we will be the next target,” he said. “God was the only one who saved us.”
Near misses
The first strike the crew witnessed on February 28 left them fearing for their lives as Iranian naval vessels sailed close to international commercial vessels to seek cover from US strikes.
“The Iranian navy ship was close to a bulk carrier when it was hit by a fighter jet,” Mr Goyal said. “Before that, the same Iranian ship was very close to my ship. The first hit was a misfire. There was a huge amount of water like a rocket that came out from the sea.
“After the first attack, there was a second strike directly on the naval ship, then there were three or four strikes. When the rescue team came, they were hit also. Luckily the commercial ship was safe.”
Managing a crew made up of veteran seafarers and young sailors on their first voyage was a challenge, with all the men suffering trauma.
“My ship was vibrating like somebody had hit it. We were not able to eat, not able to sleep. The men were crying, even I was crying. It was happening on a daily basis, huge rockets and missiles coming in like fireballs,” said Mr Goyal, a sailor for 14 years.
“The big challenge is I had 24 people, all my juniors, and I had to support them. I had to tell them: ‘Don’t worry, we will survive. But I was aware there was nothing in our hands. I pray that nobody should face this.”
The US and Iran warned that any ship challenging the blockade would be a target. Mr Goyal recalled the impact when an MSC container vessel was struck.
“When the MSC ship was hit, I was on the bridge,” he said. “Our ship started vibrating, there was a very loud sound. I told people to go back to their rooms but they were afraid because we had seen accommodation being hit.”
Hearing commercial vessels being warned to turn around or face an attack was unfathomable to the crew.
“They were saying on the radio: 'Please go back immediately, otherwise you will be destroyed.' Then there was a second warning. And the next warning said: 'This is the last warning. You will be destroyed.'
“I heard this and it was killing my heart. How can this be? This is a ship, it’s not a bike or a car. We cannot immediately stop.”
Listening to a Thai crew's radio call for help from another commercial vessel also triggered deep anxiety.
“We heard the Thai sailors’ distress message: ‘My ship is hit by a missile in the engine room and we are sinking. Please help us.’ Finally the Oman Navy rescued them. Earlier we had hope because only naval ships were hit. But when we watched commercial ships hit, we felt: how will we survive, how can we jump from the ship if a missile hits?”
Danger zone
Mr Goyal had enjoyed watching war movies, but now he realised he was living in one.
“When watching these missiles every day, I thought of the Second World War movies. Then I realised it is the same exact thing: what was happening in black and white, the same scenario was happening in front of me. And I got more scared.”
The crew pleaded with authorities, embassies and their owners to be evacuated.
“Everyone told us: ‘Yes, we are trying.’ But we knew they had no control. Everybody was helpless,” he said.
Being unable to share the desperation of the situation with his family also added to the tension.
“My wife was crying, my four-year-old son every day asked me: ‘Papa, when are you coming back?’ Some days I was not able to talk to my family. How could I tell them I’m coming back? I told them not to worry but I was crying.”
Escape to UAE waters
The sailors finally received a route from the ship’s owners through the precarious strait and into UAE waters. A journey that should have taken six hours took an arduous 14 hours as the ship hugged the coastlines of Iran and the UAE for safety.
“Other ships tried to run but got hit. We had to take a correct decision. If we took a wrong decision we would be hit,” Mr Goyal said.
“On March 28, we got surprise news that we could get out of Bandar Abbas. We were given a designated route because the other route had underwater mines. It took us around 14 hours to transit and every moment my heartbeat was so high. I told my family to continuously pray.”
The crew finally disembarked in Sharjah on April 3. For Mr Goyal, who had begun the journey on the bulk carrier on July 19, 2025, it had been a long and frightening voyage.
Since then, he has decided to stay close to the Indian coast, worried that an international voyage could bring him close to the conflict zone.
“Actually, I am broken and my family is also broken,” he said. “My family asked me not to go back on board but I cannot quit my career. So now I’m working near the Indian coast. I got calls from many companies to join their vessel. But I know at any time the ship can go to the Hormuz area because it is a hub for commercial ships.”
He issued a plea for support so that seafarers are not caught up in global conflicts. “This is totally wrong. We are on commercial ships, we are neither navy, neither are we soldiers, we are workers on board ships,” he said. “Seafarers are being killed and I have tears in my eyes.”
Real stories
There have been 17 seafarer deaths in 56 attacks in the Arabian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, according to the UN's International Maritime Organisation, with about 20,000 seafarers stranded on commercial ships when the war began.
In July, India barred its maritime workforce from serving on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz after an Indian marine engineer was killed when Iran attacked a merchant ship off the coast of Oman.
That ban has since been lifted, but Capt Dharmesh Shah, founder of Nav Insider, a platform that provides guidance on marine education, said nothing justified risking lives.
“Merchant seafarers are civilians, they are not combatants and should never become casualties of geopolitical conflicts,” Capt Shah told The National while sailing in the Arabian Sea. “A ship can be repaired, cargo can be replaced but a seafarer’s life cannot.”
He said videos recorded by seafarers would help people realise how treacherous it was.
“These are real recordings made by the crew themselves while they are experiencing the situation,” he said. “I believe this will help people understand what merchant seafarers actually go through when they sail through conflict zones.”
He urged governments and shipping companies to protect seafarers and called for global co-operation.
“It requires international co-operation to ensure freedom of navigation, stronger naval protection in high-risk areas, better intelligence-sharing and responsible decisions by shipping companies,” he said.
“Seafarers are ordinary people doing an extraordinary job. They continue sailing so that fuel reaches power stations, medicines reach hospitals and food reaches our tables. The least we can do is ensure they are protected, supported and never forgotten.”
