A Lebanese seafarer caught in a double-whammy amid the West Asia war

For Akkad Soubhi, the West Asia war has been what the Americans would call a double-whammy. Chief engineer on a car carrier ship anchored off Khor Fakkan, Mr. Akkad has been caught in the middle of the West Asia war. His family in Lebanon, more than a thousand miles away, also wakes up to missiles and bombs every day. Fearful of a civil war breaking out, they are planning to move to Turkiye or Syria.

Mr. Akkad has been stuck in his ship carrying more than 1,000 cars for over a month — off Fujairah first, now off Khor Fakkan. His ship was about to enter the Strait of Hormuz on March 2 when they got the message that Jebel Ali port, their destination, had been attacked. And they decided to stay near Fujairah.

Unlike other seafarers, Mr. Akkad’s home country is also in distress. Though he assures that he lives in Sunni-dominated north Lebanon that often escapes Israeli attacks, he fears a civil war may break out once again in the country. He cites the recent killing of a Christian leader by drones looking for a Hezbollah operative in central Lebanon. “Christians are now angry at Shias and may turn against them and refugees,” he says, recalling the devastating civil war of the 1980s. “Every ten years, there is a big conflict. We are used to that. But this time may be different. It’s all push-button now and war is easy to do.”

He says the second officer on his ship is from South Lebanon. “His house was completely destroyed recently. I tried to console him that at least his family was safe,” he says.

Seeking sanctuary

Mr. Akkad says his mother will be moving to Turkiye soon. And his wife and daughter will move there after a month once his daughter’s university education is over.

“We are considering moving to Syria. Though there are low-intensity troubles there, the country is relatively more peaceful than Lebanon,” he adds.

In the Gulf of Oman, too, it has been a daily dance of death. Mr. Akkad talks of missiles hitting another ship just one nautical mile away and destroying it. He saw the Fujairah port attacked and one large fuel tank hit. “We saw the blaze for nearly a week.” Hundreds of merchant ships are stuck in the Gulf unable to move up or down the Strait of Hormuz. Nearly 30,000 seafarers are estimated to be onboard these ships. Long anchorages often mean ship crew doing major maintenance work on equipment. But this is war. The ship needs to be always ready to move, which means all the equipment are ready for operation.

On March 21, for instance, the owners asked them to move to Khor Fakkan port for discharging. After 100 cars rolled out, suddenly, the harbour master came to them and said there was information that the port was going to be attacked and ships had to leave. Since then, Mr. Akkad’s ship has been anchored off Khor Fakkan port. They have been told that ships can come in only bringing emergency supplies.

Typically, ships make fresh water on board using water used to cool the engines. When a ship is not sailing, there is no source of hot water from the engine and no water can be made. But ships are being supplied water and food supplies by owners.

“We have told our crew that if they want to leave, repatriation can be arranged. But we are all staying,” he says proudly, pointing out that his ship has 19 Indians out of a total of 24 crew. They all have Internet and are talking to their families. “We even had a near miss when a missile that seemed to coming at us was intercepted.”

Humour often helps alleviate the tension on board. A form of gallows humour, almost. “We have learned to shout hello to the drones. They fly so close that they can hear us if they have ears,” he says.