Oman's navy has rescued 25 crew members from a burning crude oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, the country's Maritime Security Centre said in a statement on Friday, as attacks on shipping in the world's most important oil route continued.
Source: Al Jazeera
The centre said the Royal Navy of Oman, in coordination with the Maritime Security Centre, carried out an evacuation operation for the 25 crew members of the merchant ship RITI, flying the Panamanian flag, after it was targeted, which led to a fire breaking out on board, off the coast of Musandam Governorate. The crew members were provided with medical care, the Omani statement said. Oman did not release details about the crew's condition, the tanker's cargo or who carried out the attack.
Source: AFP via Hatha Al-Youm
The vessel-tracking website MarineTraffic identified the RITI as a crude oil tanker. Awaaz Punjab is reporting the vessel's name and flag as stated by Oman's Maritime Security Centre; no group has been officially attributed responsibility for targeting it, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Iran's separate claim of three tankers in the strait
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said separately on Friday that three oil tankers had been halted after encountering incidents or hitting mines while attempting to use what it called unauthorised routes through the strait. The Guards said all three vessels were carrying oil and that one was a supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of oil — yaani 20 lakh barrels. It is unclear whether the RITI was one of the three vessels cited by Iran, and Omani authorities have not established any such connection. The IRGC claim has not been independently verified.
Source: Al Jazeera
In a video released earlier on Friday, US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper said US forces had successfully cleared the strait's internationally recognised primary transit routes of Iranian sea mines — a claim that sits directly against Iran's account of tankers striking mines in the same waterway.
The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly one-fifth of the world's seaborne oil. Every new tanker incident pushes up crude prices and insurance costs, and it raises the risk for the lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers and seafarers who live and work across the Gulf states on both sides of the waterway.
What is solid
- Oman's Maritime Security Centre said its navy evacuated 25 crew from the Panama-flagged RITI after it was targeted and caught fire, and that the crew received medical care.
- MarineTraffic identifies the RITI as a crude oil tanker.
What is only claimed
- Iran's Guards say three tankers hit mines or were halted on unauthorised routes — not independently verified.
- Whether the RITI was one of Iran's three tankers, and who targeted the RITI, has not been established by any authority.
Sources: Al Jazeera; AFP reporting carried by Hatha Al-Youm; Reuters reporting on the IRGC statement carried by StockBiz.