UN maritime agency urges help for stranded Hormuz sailors

SINGAPORE, Apr 21: The head of the UN maritime agency appealed on Tuesday for help for thousands of seafarers stranded due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as the Middle East war paralyses the vital shipping route.
Around 20,000 seafarers and 2,000 ships have been stranded after shipping was disrupted in the strategic strait following US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 that triggered the war, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Reuters adds, shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained broadly halted on Tuesday with only three ships passing the waterway in the past 24 hours, shipping data showed.
A US blockade of Iranian ports has infuriated Tehran, prompting it to maintain its own restrictions on the strait, which had been typically handling roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supply.
The Ean Spir products tanker sailed through Hormuz on Tuesday after previously calling at an Iraqi port, ship tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform showed.
The Lianstar cargo ship also sailed through the strait from an Iranian port, the data showed.
Separately, the Meda liquefied petroleum gas tanker crossed the strait on Monday in its second attempt to leave the Gulf after turning back previously, according to satellite analysis from data analytics specialists SynMax.
Those are a fraction of the 140 ships that sailed through daily before the US and Israel's war on Iran began on February 28.    �"AFP, REUTERS