Liberia, Nov. 4 -- Liberia has told the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that seafarers "must never become targets or casualties" of the wars now spreading along some of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Delivering Liberia's General Statement on Tuesday, November 3, at the 138th session of the IMO Council (Agenda Item C138/11), Liberia's Maritime Commissioner and CEO, Cllr. Neto Zarzar Lighe, Sr., expressed grave concern over persistent attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Strait of Hormuz. Thousands of seafarers and their vessels remain trapped in these waters by military operations.

"Seafarers are innocent civilian p...