In March, a cargo vessel carrying 29-year-old Jerin George and his colleagues sailed out of Dubai loaded with containers bound for Iran. By the time it docked at Khorramshahr Port, near the Iran-Iraq border, Israeli missiles were falling on the coast.
Jerin, an engine mechanic from Alappuzha in Kerala, tells The Quint,
"For 45 days, the 14 of us on board feared for our lives. I thought I would never see my father, my mother, my sister again. We didn't have enough food—the stock was meant for 15 days, just the time to sail from Dubai to Iran and back. When the missiles hit the port, we hid in fear, with hunger pangs."