'We don't sleep': Sailors stranded in Persian Gulf as rockets fly over their heads

Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has trapped the largely invisible workforce that keeps the world’s maritime trade afloat, with 20,000 sailors stuck on their vessels.

HONG KONG — He and his shipmates stay up on the deck at night, sometimes watching rockets fly over their heads.

What was supposed to be an uneventful first voyage transporting oil across the Persian Gulf has turned into a nightmare for a 28-year-old sailor from India, who has spent the past month stuck as his ship sits idled by the Iran war.

“We don’t sleep at night. We stay up on deck because you never know what might happen next,” said the sailor, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals from authorities and his employer.

The seafarer, who has been at sea since November, was speaking to NBC News from Iraqi waters minutes after an air attack Tuesday afternoon, which he says landed on Iran just a few miles away.

“The ship is still vibrating,” he said in an interview in Hindi.