India, Sept. 13 -- At the BRICS Summit on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed a shared safety net for merchant seafarers - the workers who crew the cargo ships, tankers and container vessels of the world's commercial fleet.

India supplies more of them than any country other than the Philippines, and at least 15 of them have been killed in two conflict theatres over the past nine months.

"Seafarers contribute significantly to global trade, but they often lack support in difficult times," Modi said, proposing a Seafarers Emergency Support Network. It would, he said, "connect maritime authorities and missions in the respective countries" and provide "assistance with distress alerts, medical assistance, information to families, ...