Sumit Kumar Singh, a sailor from eastern India, did not hesitate when a job opened up on a ship ferrying oil in the Persian Gulf. He knew it was dangerous work, but he needed the money.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 12, he told his wife, Komal Priya, that his ship would soon enter the Strait of Hormuz. He said he would call her once he arrived at its destination. Instead, early the next morning, Ms. Priya received a call from a crew member saying that her husband and another sailor were missing after the ship, the El Gaia, was struck by an Iranian missile and a drone.<\/p>\n
Oil exports<\/a> from the Persian Gulf have rebounded, with more tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz. But the journey remains incredibly risky. Since the war began, there have been more than 100 attacks. At least 26 ships have been struck this month alone, making it the most dangerous period during the war in Iran. Even as the regional conflict has escalated in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, the strait remains a deadly focus of fighting.<\/p>\n For going on eight months, thousands of sailors have been working on the front line of the war, supporting families far away. At least 25 of them have been killed, almost all by Iran, and four are missing. The first fatality was hours after the war began, and the most recent report of sailors who are missing or dead was on Monday.<\/p>\n On the El Gaia, projectiles struck the engine room, and Mr. Singh died in the ensuing fire. Grief has left Ms. Priya barely able to eat, said her brother, Aditya Raj, who recounted the family\u2019s experience. Around the house, the children, ages 4 and 7, ask where their father is.<\/p>\n The New York Times interviewed members of seven families, including Mr. Raj, who lost husbands, fathers and brothers to attacks in or around the Strait of Hormuz. It reviewed incident reports, communications between shipping companies and families, and life insurance records, and spoke to industry analysts and officials who were monitoring conditions in the region.<\/p>\n The family members described to The Times their trauma and horror when learning of the deaths, and they spoke of their subsequent frustrations trying to secure compensation as survivors while trying to make sense of what happened. In most cases, the sailor\u2019s\u2019 salary supported his family. Only one family said it had received compensation, about $150,000.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have anything to do with Iran and America, and we are losing our family members and our loved ones,\u201d Mr. Raj said. \u201cDon\u2019t they know on those vessels there are innocent people?\u201d<\/p>\n Most of the world\u2019s sailors are from Asia \u2014 India, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, among others \u2014 as well as Russia and Ukraine. The pay at sea is generally much higher than in jobs at home.<\/p>\n That was the case with Mr. Singh, who was making $1,500 a month on the El Gaia, more than what most people in his state, Bihar, made in a year. He was the family\u2019s sole breadwinner, and his wife, Ms. Priya, has enough money to support their children for another three to six months, Mr. Raj said. The family is in limbo, awaiting compensation for Mr. Singh\u2019s death, as well as for the authorities to identify his remains and return them to India for a funeral, Mr. Raj said. The shipowner does not have publicly listed contact information and could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n One of the first ships to be attacked in the war was the Skylight, struck on March 1. One of the sailors who was killed, Dalip Singh, 26, had just hours earlier taken a video call with his brother and parents in Rajasthan, India. He asked about the village and for their updates, recalled his younger brother, Manoj Singh. \u201cA normal family conversation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n When his parents learned about their son\u2019s death, they were devastated. His father died of a heart attack six weeks later, Mr. Singh said. His mother has hardly gotten out of bed.<\/p>\n Mr. Singh said his family had been told that it could not be compensated until it had sent a death certificate, which the family has not been able to obtain. \u201cMy brother is gone,\u201d he said. \u201cWe cannot reverse that. Now compensation should be given so there is some element of certainty in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n The Skylight ship, under U.S. sanctions, was managed by an Emirati company, Red Sea Ship Management, which is also under U.S. sanctions, according to the U.S. Treasury Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n Maritime law requires shipowners to pay financial damages to survivors of sailors killed on ships. The levels of compensation depend on many factors, including the anticipated earnings potential of the deceased. But some ships operate outside the law, and families are likely to find it harder to get compensation from their owners. This group of ships includes a growing category of vessels known as the shadow fleet, some of which operate with substandard or fraudulent insurance.<\/p>\n