New Delhi, March 11 -- The government is closely monitoring 28 Indian-flagged merchant vessels currently in the Persian Gulf and taking steps to ensure the security of 10 million Indians living in West Asia and to facilitate the return of citizens stranded in the region because of the Iran-US conflict, senior officials said on Wednesday.

A total of 24 Indian-flagged vessels with 677 Indian seafarers are currently located to the west of the Strait of Hormuz, while four vessels with 101 Indian seafarers are to the east of the crucial waterway, Rajesh Kumar Sinha, special secretary in the shipping ministry, told a briefing on developments in West Asia.

Indians constitute almost 12% of the global seafaring workforce, with a total of more th...