Three tankers hit in Gulf and one seafarer killed
At least three tankers were damaged and one sailor was killed off the Gulf coast as Iran’s retaliation for U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran exposed the ships to collateral damage, shipping sources and officials said.
Shipping data published on Sunday showed risks to commercial shipping had increased in the past 24 hours, with more than 200 ships, including oil and liquefied gas tankers, anchoring in the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters.
Iran said it was blocking navigation in the critical waterway, prompting Asian governments and refiners (the main buyers) to evaluate their oil stocks.
Major container shipping lines were rerouted to the Cape of Good Hope.
“The US-Israeli attack on Iran significantly increases the security risk to ships operating in the Persian Gulf and neighboring waters,” said Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer at maritime union BIMCO.
It was not immediately clear who launched the projectiles and drones that targeted or damaged the ships on Sunday.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that the US destroyed nine Iranian naval ships and battered Iran’s naval headquarters.
“Ships with business ties to U.S. or Israeli interests are more likely to be targeted, but other ships may also be targeted deliberately or accidentally,” said BIMCO’s Larsen.
The Marshall Islands-flagged product tanker MKD VYOM was hit by a shell and killed a crew member while the ship was sailing off the coast of Oman, ship manager V.Ships said on Sunday.
“The ship suffered an explosion and then a fire broke out after being hit,” V.Ships Asia said in a statement. he said.
“We confirm with great sadness that a crew member who was in the engine room at the time of the incident lost his life,” the statement said.
The International Maritime Organization, the UN’s maritime agency, has called on companies to avoid sailing through the affected area until conditions improve.
A Palau-flagged oil tanker under US sanctions was hit off Oman’s Musandam peninsula on Sunday, injuring four people, the country’s maritime security center said, without specifying what hit the ship.
Maritime security sources said another tanker in the UAE’s Jebel Ali port was nearly damaged by falling debris from an aerial attack following Iran’s night attacks targeting Gulf countries.
A third oil fuel tanker was damaged off the coast of the UAE, two shipping sources said.
Maritime security sources said the fourth ship, an oil products tanker, was targeted by a drone off the coast of the UAE but managed to sail away undamaged.
Port operations at Jebel Ali have been paused due to the situation, officials said on Sunday.
