India, March 13 -- As many as 22 ships in the war zone critical to the country's energy security have been identified for evacuation, the directorate of shipping based in Mumbai listed it on its situation report on Thursday.

The development comes on the day when officials aware of the details said India was in touch with Iranian authorities to arrange the safe passage of almost 30 Indian-flagged merchant vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively been closed by the Iranian military because of the conflict with Israel and the US.

The report prepared by Director General of Shipping Shyam Jagannathan said that for the purpose of evacuation of these vessels, coordination is ongoing to enable planning of naval escorts and ot...