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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Jillian Ambrose and Joanna Partridge

‘Mental breakdown’: oil tanker workers stuck in Gulf for six weeks are reaching their limit

Cargo ships near the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf waters
The oil tanker worker says about 90% of those on board want to exercise their right to refuse to sail. Photograph: Reuters

‘You can try to minimise the impact that this situation has on your mental health but it’s becoming impossible.” After six weeks stranded in the Gulf, one of the 20,000 seafarers trapped by Iran’s chokehold on the strait of Hormuz is reaching their limit.

Yet with the fragile Middle East ceasefire already fraying, the oil tanker worker – who first spoke to the Guardian a month ago – said any hope they may soon be free to leave had already evaporated, if it ever felt real at all.

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