Dead or stranded: Commercial sailors suffer in the Strait of Hormuz

The U.S.-Iran deal due to be signed Friday may offer some hope for tens of thousands of commercial sailors trapped in the Strait of Hormuz, but it's unlikely to quickly end what for many has been a brutal ordeal.

"It is, at best, the beginning," the International Transport Workers' Federation, a global association of transport workers' unions, said in a statement Monday.

Both Iran and the U.S. have detained and attacked commercial vessels accused of transgressing regulations imposed on the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters during the 109-day war.

At least 14 commercial mariners have died during the war, including three Indian nationals killed in a U.S. strike on an Iranian tanker last week. Others have been wounded, detained by military forces or stuck at sea in hellish conditions.

About 600 vessels remain trapped in the Persian Gulf, according to business intelligence firm Kpler, and shipping companies expect it to take weeks — if not months — for normal traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to resume. The narrow strait is the only way in or out of the Gulf.

While there is cautious optimism, evacuation and repatriation of the workers on the stranded ships does not appear imminent.

"Words on paper must now translate into action for the transport workers who have paid the price of this conflict," said the International Transport Workers' Federation, adding it was already working on evacuation plans with the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization.

Conditions on ships around the Gulf were "unbearable" last week, as U.S. strikes on three commercial vessels left the three Indian nationals dead, according to Manoj Yadav, general secretary of the Forward Seamen's Union of India.

"They were absolutely not feeling well. Many called us and said they are not able to sail further," Yadav told CBS News in a Monday phone interview.

India's commercial shipping ministry said this week that nearly 18,000 Indian mariners remain in the region, and Yadav said many had "expressed they are feeling like [they are] in jail."

A fourth Indian mariner, Second Officer Nishanth Uirthanathan, died on board the MT Celestial Sea tanker last week, about a month after the U.S. Navy diverted the vessel, according to the Indian seafarers union. The Iranian-flagged ship had been bound for India, but was rerouted by some 400 miles to Oman's Duqm Port, the union said, where Uirthanathan died on June 11 while awaiting medical evacuation.

His body remained on board the ship for three days without refrigeration, Yadav said Monday.

The U.S. military's Central Command said on