Filipino seafarer Jay was on lookout duty aboard a vessel passing through the Strait of Hormuz one evening in August when drones swarmed overhead, darting past his ship and two others it was following.
Within seconds, an explosion rang out from the tanker ahead.
“That was traumatic for me when I saw that the tanker ahead of our vessel had been hit,” said Jay, whose real name has been withheld to protect him from possible employer retribution.
The 29-year-old and his fellow crew members made it through the strait unscathed, but the experience stayed with him. “We never talked about what happened; it was done. We would move on and proceed to the next voyage,” he said.