New Delhi has asked shipping companies and vessel operators to refrain from deploying Indian sailors in vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, where several ships have come under attack earlier this week.

The advisory comes in the wake of attacks on two ships in the Strait of Hormuz that left two Indian crew members dead and eight others injured in the contentious waterway. The Middle East conflict has resulted in the death of nearly a dozen Indian nationals. Several seafarers have been rescued from ships and tankers that were struck.

“Ship owners, ship managers and (hiring and staffing) companies are directed to avoid deploying Indian seafarers on vessels undertaking voyages involving passage through the Strait of Hormuz until further orders,” India’s Director General of Maritime Administration (DGMA) said in a notification on Wednesday.

The DGMA asked vessel operators to adhere to “heightened security vigilance in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and adjoining waters” and that it “continues to closely monitor the evolving security situation and remains committed to safeguarding the safety, security and welfare of Indian seafarers.”

The Indian sailors stranded in the Middle East shipping lanes when Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz and US forces blockaded Iran were mostly employed on foreign-flagged ships.

Indians are disproportionately impacted by the attacks on ships in various global conflict areas as the country has some 300,000 nationals working on ships, making it the third-largest supplier of maritime labor globally.

Shipping expert Captain Sanjay Prashar cited practical difficulties like unemployment in enforcing steps to curtail the deployment of seafarers. “Anybody who’s a seafarer… has to run a home,” he told RT India. “So I think those guys are going to take their chances.”

He added that the Indian government “needs to do more to protect these seafarers.”

“We have ships which are being targeted in Ukrainian waters or in Russian waters or transiting through Black Sea. Then we have ships through the Hormuz Strait, even in West Africa.”

The Middle East conflict has flared up again as the ceasefire agreement reached in June has unraveled after the US and Iran traded strikes, and struck ships trying to transit the strait.