Ankit Yadav, a seafarer from India, has been stuck on a boat at an inland Iranian port for about two-and-a-half weeks, surviving with his three fellow mariners on limited rations of tomatoes and potatoes, Reuters reports.

He is one among thousands of seafarers from India and other nations who are stranded in and around the Strait of Hormuz, as the war in Iran disrupts trade along one of the world’s busiest ship routes.

Ankit, who is in his early 30s, was on a small vessel carrying steel and plying between Iran, Kuwait and Oman. He said he could have left the conflict zone had the vessel received permission to sail to Oman and then be repatriated to India, but that could not happen because of the blockade imposed by the US Navy.

“The shipping company I work for is not ready to give us the sign-off because they do not want to pay higher air ticket prices, and we cannot afford to buy them on our own. The only way out is the government’s help,” he tells Reuters by phone.

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