5-year-old in UP waits for father killed in US strike on oil tanker near Strait of Hormuz

LUCKNOW: Five-year-old Rajveer and his two-year-old sister Vanika sat silently on a chair beside each other, too young to fully understand the tragedy unfolding around them. Confusion clouded their faces as cries echoed through their modest home in Surauli village of Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria district. Their mother, grandparents, relatives and neighbours wept inconsolably. The children kept looking around, perhaps searching for the one person everyone seemed to be mourning. Their father, Shivanand Chaurasia (31), was never coming home. Shivanand was among the three Indian sailors who were confirmed dead after a US military strike targeted the Palau-flagged oil tanker MT Settebello off the coast of Oman near the strategically important Strait of Hormuz. Initially reported missing after the attack, the three seafarers were later confirmed dead, Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said. The tanker was carrying 24 Indian crew members at the time of the strike. While 21 sailors were rescued, Shivanand and two others lost their lives in the incident, turning what had begun as an ordinary work assignment into an unimaginable tragedy for their families. For Shivanand’s family, the devastating news arrived thousands of kilometres away from the waters where he had been working. The first information reached his younger brother, Ram Pravesh Chaurasia, who works in Dubai. On Thursday morning, he called home and informed the family about the incident. The phone call shattered the household. Shivanand, the elder of two brothers, had left home nearly six months ago to work aboard the Singapore-managed vessel. Like countless Indian seafarers, he had embarked on the journey with dreams of securing a better future for his family. Instead, his loved ones are now waiting for his mortal remains. Speaking to TOI, his father Ramji Chaurasia struggled to contain his grief. “He was a welder on the ship and had joined around six months back. This was his first overseas tour. We were informed about his death by my younger son, who works in Dubai,” he said. The loss has left a deep void in the family. Shivanand is survived by his parents, Ramji Chaurasia and Kalawati Devi, his wife Sushila, son Rajveer and daughter Vanika. The young children are still unaware that the father who left home promising to return with gifts and stories from distant lands will never walk through their door again. As news of the tragedy spread, villagers and residents from nearby areas gathered at the Chaurasia home to offer condolences. Among them was local resident Vaibhav Sahi, who demanded immediate recovery and repatriation of Shivanand’s body. “The family deserves a dignified closure,” he said. The deaths have sparked strong reactions in India, with the government lodging a protest over the attack and directing officials to facilitate the return of the rescued crew members as well as the mortal remains of the deceased sailors.