Who are the seafarers caught in the US-Israeli war on Iran?

Commercial vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz and its surrounding waters have come under repeated attack since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran nine months ago. The conflict has transformed one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors into a dangerous passage for crews transporting oil, gas and other goods.

On Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said three “rogue oil tankers travelling an unauthorised route” in the strait were subject to “explosions and severe fires”. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has recorded the deaths of at least 25 seafarers since the war started on February 28.

Many of those killed have been citizens of India, one of the world’s largest suppliers of merchant sailors. “It is unacceptable that throughout this conflict seafarers have been placed in harm’s way,” the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), a shipping trade association and advocacy group, told Al Jazeera.