A mariner's distress call on the eve of World Maritime Day
As the world prepared to celebrate seafarers, Bangladeshi mariner Sakib Aman heard his mariner father describe the horror of a missile attack at sea.
At 1:06pm on Wednesday (23 September), just minutes after a missile struck the ship he was working on, Bangladeshi chief engineer Mohammad Aman Ullah sent a voice message to his son.
"Pray for us," was the essence of the message.
His son, Sakib Aman, is a mariner himself. He knows the dangers of the sea. But hearing his father speak from a ship that had just come under attack was different.
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Aman Ullah was serving as chief engineer of the 1,70,000-tonne bulk carrier MV Cape Dao, which was hit by projectiles while sailing towards India from the United Arab Emirates.
The vessel came under attack between around 10:10am and 10:50am Oman local time on Wednesday, near Oman's Musandam coast, as it was transiting waters near the Strait of Hormuz.
A fire broke out in the vessel after the attack, including in the engine room area.
Aman Ullah was inside the engine room when the missiles struck.
"The attack was very sudden. We had to get out of the engine room in a very frightening situation," he told The Business Standard in a voice message from Oman.
"One of my colleagues, a young Indian sailor, died there immediately," he said.
The sailor was later identified as Suraj Yadav, a wiper from Uttar Pradesh, India. He sustained head injuries and died. His body could not immediately be recovered because the engine-room area remained on fire, according to maritime sources.
The surviving 27 crew members were rescued by the Omani Navy after the crew sent an SOS. They were later handed over to Omani police and taken to a hotel.
The crew included Aman Ullah, the only Bangladeshi, two Nigerians, six Filipinos, and Indian nationals.
The vessel had completed discharging coal at Mina Saqr in the UAE before the attack. The projectiles struck its port side and the engine-room area.
The destruction, Aman Ullah told his son, was almost instantaneous.
"I used to hear from my parents how my mother carried me and ran during the 1971 war. I did not understand anything then. But yesterday I saw the sound and destruction of war with my own eyes," he said.
"A missile can cause such enormous damage in a moment. Wherever it hits, there is fire. Everything on the ship was falling. The ceilings came crashing down, pipes burst, and the entire ship went dark within moments," he said.
"This is frightening. I would never have understood it unless I had seen it with my own eyes," he added.
"We contacted our company and sent an SOS, asking them to save our lives. Within 45 minutes, the Omani Navy rescued us," said Aman Ullah.
The ship's master managed to save a bag containing the crew's passports and Continuous Discharge Certificates. Almost everything else was destroyed in the fire.
Now, Aman Ullah is waiting in an Omani hotel for the necessary formalities before returning home.
For his son Sakib, however, the rescue did not immediately bring relief.
His mother fell ill after learning about the attack, while his younger brother is recovering from injuries sustained in an accident last month.
"So, everything together has made this a very challenging situation for our family," Sakib said.
The timing of the incident has made the experience even more poignant.
Thursday (24 September) was World Maritime Day, when the global maritime community recognises the contribution of seafarers and highlights their safety, professional excellence, and role in keeping international trade moving.
But as Bangladesh joins the world in marking the day, Sakib is thinking about something more immediate: whether his father will return home safely.
"When we are talking about the contribution of seafarers on World Maritime Day, we also have to talk about their safety," said the mariner.
Bangladesh has around 15,000 to 20,000 mariners working on foreign-flagged vessels, according to Sakib. Many spend months away from their families and regularly sail through regions affected by geopolitical tensions.
"The contribution of mariners to the economy is significant. But their security also needs to be ensured so that their families can sleep peacefully at home," Sakib said.
The incident has also renewed Sakib's concerns about the support available to seafarers and their families during emergencies.
He said his family initially struggled to communicate with his father's manning agency after learning about the attack and eventually had to involve the Department of Shipping.
Sakib said he had a call from the director general of shipping and the Prime Minister's office. "They are now reaching out to the Omani authorities to repatriate my father. But it is still uncertain when he will return home."
DG of Shipping Commodore Shafiul Bari told TBS, "We are working to arrange visas for the rescued crew members, including a Bangladeshi chief engineer. We are in contact with them. Once the visa is issued, the Bangladeshi mariner will return home."
Sakib said stronger oversight of manning agencies was needed to protect Bangladeshi seafarers.
For seafarers' families, such concerns are not abstract. They become real when a phone rings unexpectedly. When a father sends a voice message from a burning ship.
When a son, who himself works at sea, hears his father's voice describing how a missile turned an ordinary voyage into a fight for survival.
On Thursday, a colourful event was held at Bangladesh Marine Academy to mark World Maritime Day and celebrate the men and women who keep global trade moving.
For Sakib, the day will carry a different meaning.
It will be remembered through a voice message received at 1:06pm.
His father's voice from a ship under attack.
And the relief of knowing that, for now, his father survived.
