‘Lost one and only hope’: Family of Indian sailor killed in US strike seeks justice

AFter a US walk out on a commercial message vas in the disconnection of muscat and oman killed an Indian sailor, there are urgent questions about seafarer safety, accountability and India's response. DW spoke with the sailor's family.Sushila Devi is grappling with profound grief after her husband, Indian sailor Shivanand Chaurasia, was killed on June 9 in a US strike on the commerical ship MT Settebello in the Gulf of Oman. An engineering fitter by profession, Chaurasia had spent years training for a career at sea, hoping to build a better future for his family. Instead, his family is now left trying to come to terms with a future without him. Track live updates on US Iran dealChaurasia was one of three Indian sailors killed when the US military struck the Palau-flagged oil and chemical tanker earlier this month. The US military said it was enforcing a blockade on Iranian oil exports amid the Iran war. Patnala Suresh, a chief engineer and Aditya Sharma, a deck cadet, were also killed. The other 21 Indian crew members onboard were rescued. US officials said the tanker was carrying Iranian oil, and had received repeated warnings. The ship's manager disputes that, saying the vessel had no connection to Iran and received no warning before it was hit. 'America killed my husband' "They have stolen all my happiness. It was America who killed my husband. That is why Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi and [Uttar Pradesh] Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are silent. "They should have stood up for their people and asked why they did this to us," she told DW. Shivanand Chaurasia's family lives in a farming village in eastern Uttar Pradesh's Deoria district. It's a smattering of mud-and-brick homes amid a few miles of rice fields. The family sits silently inside their modest brick house as relatives and neighbors move in and out, offering words of comfort. "My brother's death has given us so much pain," said his sister, Soni Chaurasia. "I don't feel like living in this world now, because the family has lost its one and only hope." The family feels abandoned by the Indian government's silence. No leader has paid a visit to the grieving family. Also read: ‘Pushed’ him to death, screamed ‘help, help’: Siya’s first words after allegedly murdering Ketan"We are poor. That's why the Modi government doesn't care. Had we been rich, they would have visited us," said Soni. Like most families in this part of Uttar Pradesh, the Chaurasias survive on farming, barely producing enough to feed everyone. The sea was supposed to be Shivanand Chaurasia's way out. To pay for the marine engineering course, his family sold land and borrowed nearly 860,000 rupees (€8,000, $9,000). He finally landed a job on an oil tanker. India's maritime workforce India supplies one of the world's largest maritime workforces. According to industry estimates, Indian nationals account for roughly 12% of global seafarers. Tens of thousands work on merchant vessels traversing some of the world's most volatile shipping routes. Also read: NCERT Class 9 book adds Emergency, drops Preamble and SecularismUnder a tree near the Chaurasia house, a group of men gathered to discuss what happened and what it meant for them. Many have relatives working at sea, including the Persian Gulf. For families already carrying debt, maritime work once looked like a way out. Now it looks like a gamble with a life attached. "We won't send our men to sea anymore," one villager said, and the others nodded. Trying to make a living, but caught up in war Indian seafarers have also been injured by Iranian strikes since the war began. Bhumesh, who only goes by his first name, is a seafarer who survived an Iranian attack on the tanker Skylight on March 1, as Tehran enforced its own blockade of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. It was one of the first ships to be attacked during the war. Bhumesh was on the bridge of the ship when it came under fire. "I didn't know whether I would survive. I kept thinking about how [my family] would cope without me, and whether I would ever make it back," Bhumesh said. The blast killed the captain and another Indian sailor. Bhumesh said part of him never left that ship. For weeks, he could not sleep. "Seafarers don't go there to fight wars," he said. "We go there to earn a living." Unable to return to sea, he now drives a truck and lives in a rented room on the outskirts of Delhi. More than three months on, he is still waiting for compensation from the shipping company. Bhumesh's experience is one of dozens that India's seafarers' union has been tracking. "It's a serious concern," Manoj Yadav, general secretary of the Forward Seamen's Union of India, told DW. "Why did they get attacked without any warnings?" Throughout the day, Yadav fields calls from stranded sailors who are reporting that many vessels stranded in the Gulf are struggling with shortages of food and supplies. The union is also fielding numerous calls from anxious family members every day. "They want to know if their son is safe, if their husband is coming home," said Yadav. Even as US-Iran negotiations proceed and tensions in the strait subside, there are still many bottlenecks in getting every ship out. This week, the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO) launched an operation to evacuate over 11,000 seafarers and hundreds of vessels trapped in the Strait of Hormuz. Diplomacy and a family tragedy For days after the attack, India's political leaders remained largely silent while families of the victims waited for information. That silence soon became a political issue. New Delhi lodged what it called a strong protest with a senior US diplomat, while Sarbananda Sonowal, India's shipping and ports minister, said the incident was a "profound loss to our maritime family." The opposition accused the government of doing too little and questioned Prime Minister Modi's silence on the attack. Eventually, at theG7 summit, Modi raised the issue with US President Donald Trump, stressing the importance of protecting Indian seafarers working across global shipping routes. But for the Chaurasia family, this high-level diplomacy felt distant. They still had unanswered questions, such as if they are due compensation as they have been suddenly deprived of their primary breadwinner while still burdened by debt. They also want to know if enough is being done to protect other Indian sailors working in these dangerous waters. In the end, they also just wanted their family member's remains returned. For days, Rampravesh, Shivanand Chaurasia's younger brother, remained glued to his phone. Every ring brought fresh hope. Then, on the ninth day, the call finally came. Shivanand was finally coming home. Hours later, hundreds of villagers joined the funeral procession and later watched as the flames rose from the funeral pyre. The final rites were complete. The wait was over. But for Shivanand Chaurasia's family, the search for accountability, compensation and justice has only just begun.