The head of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN's shipping regulator, has called on governments and companies to do more to support roughly 20,000 seafarers aboard around 2,000 vessels stranded in and around the Strait of Hormuz (the narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula through which about one-fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally flows). Speaking at a maritime conference in Singapore, IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez said sailors were suffering from stress and fatigue following the disruption of shipping after US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February triggered the ongoing conflict. Dominguez urged shipping firms to offer remote mental health support and called for more proactive outreach to isolated crew members, as a ceasefire in the region was set to expire on Wednesday with both the United States and Iran warning they were prepared for further hostilities.