Seafarers stranded in the Strait of Hormuz face danger and dwindling rations

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2026

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

About 20,000 seafarers are stranded in the Persian Gulf as the U.S. and Iran remain in a standoff over the control of the Strait of Hormuz. John Canias of the International Transport Workers’ Federation explains the conditions these workers are facing.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:06.0	This is a humanitarian crisis that is happening.
0:10.8	Eight weeks.
0:12.2	None of them has touch ground.
0:14.9	They don't know when they can go out from the area.
0:18.0	Stranded on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz with no relief in sight.
0:23.8	It's Thursday, April 23rd, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR. I'm Chris Bentley.
0:34.9	Today on the show, the science behind one of the biggest cancer breakthroughs in years.
0:45.3	I think down the road, people are looking at this and saying it's the beginning of the end for pancreatic cancer.
0:51.8	Also, why the CEO of Axios wants you to stop worrying and love artificial intelligence.
0:59.7	It would be like going into the workplace and saying, I don't want to use a phone or the computer or the internet.
1:04.5	Like people would look at you like you're like an alien.
1:07.6	Before we get to that, though.
1:15.7	Some 20,000 people are stuck on ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz, because of the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran. Some are on board the
1:21.7	commercial cargo ships that Iran seized yesterday. Tehran says they were responding to the U.S., seizing a ship earlier this
1:29.8	week. And in that tit-for-tat struggle, civilian seafarers are caught in the middle. Many posted
1:37.2	on social media that they're running low on food and water. John Conyas is with the International
1:43.2	Transport Workers' Federation, a union for people who work on ships.
1:47.4	He told Scott Tong, working on a ship in the region right now, can be deadly.
1:52.8	There has been reported eight casualties.
1:55.5	The other is linked to an attack to a vessel.
1:58.4	The number is very high, so what we think for the last eight weeks,
	...

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