After 115 days trapped near the Strait of Hormuz amid the Middle East conflict, with missiles overhead and uncertainty shaping every waking hour, 17 Bangladeshi sailors from the state-owned vessel Banglar Joyjatra finally stepped onto home soil yesterday (21 July).

The sailors arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 5:42pm on an Emirates flight from Durban, South Africa, where they had handed over the vessel to a replacement crew.

For the families waiting at the airport, the reunion ended months of anxiety as conflict around the Strait of Hormuz left the crew stranded amid fears of missile attacks and sea mines.

'A missile struck just 200 metres away'

Captain Md Shafiqul Islam Khan, master of Banglar Joyjatra, said the crew lived with the fear of death every day.

"Hundreds of missiles flew over our vessel. The fear intensified after a missile struck another ship near us at Jebel Ali Port. Had it landed just 200 metres closer, our ship could have been hit," he told The Business Standard.

Despite the danger, the crew refused to abandon the vessel.

"We stayed and protected a national asset," he said.

Repeated attempts to leave the Gulf failed as authorities denied passage through the Strait of Hormuz because of the deteriorating security situation.

The breakthrough came only after a ceasefire, when BSC management decided to move the vessel despite the risk of drifting sea mines.

Manual navigation through danger

Second Officer Pronoy Krishna Sen described the passage through the Strait of Hormuz as the most dangerous part of the voyage.

"Drones flew in one direction while missiles travelled in another. We lived with that reality for 115 days," he said.

The crew faced an additional challenge when the vessel's navigation system malfunctioned during the transit.

"We could not accurately determine our position, while there was constant fear of Iranian sea mines. If we had struck one, the vessel could have sunk within minutes."

The crew ultimately relied on manual navigation to steer the bulk carrier safely through one of the world's busiest and most strategically sensitive waterways.

"It was one of the most difficult passages of my career," he said.

BSC provided all-out support

Captain Ziaur Rahman, BSC's general manager for ship personnel, said the corporation maintained regular contact with the crew throughout the crisis.

"We arranged high-speed internet so they could stay in touch with their families, ensured uninterrupted supplies of food and drinking water, and provided counselling whenever they experienced mental distress," he said.

He credited BSC Managing Director Commodore Mahmoodul Malek's decision to sail immediately after hostilities eased with preventing a much longer ordeal.

"Even a day's delay could have closed the narrow window for safe passage," he said, adding that more than 1,500 vessels remain stranded in the Gulf because of ongoing security concerns.

The crisis began in late February after Banglar Joyjatra delivered 39,000 tonnes of steel coils from Qatar's Mesaieed Port to Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates. Escalating tensions in the Middle East left the vessel stranded in the Persian Gulf with 31 Bangladeshi crew members on board.

After months of diplomatic efforts and close monitoring by the government and BSC, the ship crossed the Strait of Hormuz on 23 June before sailing to Fujairah for bunkering and hull cleaning.

It later transported about 37,500 tonnes of fertiliser to Durban, where the first crew rotation took place.

Seventeen replacement sailors have already joined the vessel, which is expected to resume commercial operations within days, with Malaysia likely to be its next destination.