He Called Home One Last Time
Around an hour before the attack, Suraj Yadav was speaking to his family from the sea.
He showed them the ship he was working on. For a young seafarer from a village in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh, it was part of the life he had chosen to build for himself—and for his family.
He did not know it would be his last video call home.
On September 23, the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier MV Cape Dao came under attack while sailing off the coast of Oman. The vessel had 28 crew members, including around 20 Indian seafarers. Suraj, who was working as a wiper, suffered a serious head injury and later died. The remaining crew were evacuated by the Royal Navy of Oman.
Suraj was from Karmanjipur/Karmajeet Pur village in the Gauri Bazar area of Deoria. Reports describe him as the eldest of four brothers. His father, Om Prakash Yadav, works abroad, while his mother, Pushpa Devi, and his younger brothers live in the village.
He had travelled to Oman on August 19 to begin work at sea. According to his uncle and neighbours, Suraj had studied up to Class 12 and had cleared the written examination and interview required for a Merchant Navy job. Reports do not reliably identify a college, so it would be wrong to add one without confirmation.
The details from his family make the story painfully ordinary.
His younger brother, Sunny, recalled that Suraj had sent him ₹1,000 for food just a day before the attack. He had also spoken about returning home and building a better house for the family.
“He always spoke about improving our family's future,” his brother said, according to The Times of India.
That future ended in the waters off Oman.
The Indian Embassy in Muscat confirmed the death and said it was coordinating with Omani authorities, the shipping company and the family for the repatriation of his body. India has described the continuing attacks on commercial shipping in the region as deeply worrisome.
The circumstances of the attack are still important to establish. The UK Maritime Trade Operations reported that the vessel was struck by an unknown projectile, while maritime sources and the Forward Seamen's Union of India reported that the ship was struck twice. The precise source and nature of the attack have not been independently established.
But for Suraj's family, the geopolitical questions are secondary.
There is a mother waiting for her son to come home.
There are three younger brothers who have lost their eldest brother.
There is a family that had watched him leave for the sea believing that the Merchant Navy would give him a chance to build a better life.
And there is a village in Deoria that now knows something that families of seafarers around India have always understood:
When a ship leaves an Indian port, it carries more than cargo. It carries someone's son, someone's brother, someone's husband, someone's hope.
Suraj Yadav went to sea to build a future for his family.
He never made it home.
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