Container ship hit by projectile sinks in Strait of Hormuz, Singapore says
All 21 sailors on the Singapore-flagged GFS Pride were evacuated safely after it was hit by an projectile on Tuesday, maritime authorities say.
Container ship struck by projectile sinks in Strait of Hormuz, Singapore says
A Singapore-flagged container ship has sunk after being hit by an unidentified projectile while passing through the Strait of Hormuz, Singaporean authorities said.
All 21 crew members aboard GFS Pride were evacuated and no injuries were reported after Tuesday’s attack, which caused damage and a fire, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said.
A second Singapore-flagged container vessel, GFS Giselle, suffered hull damage after being struck by a projectile on Wednesday but managed to reach a safe anchorage with all 22 crew members, it added.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said a ship struck naval mines and sank while travelling through what they described as an “unauthorised” route in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Guards published photos that appeared to show black smoke rising from a container vessel that was still afloat but low in the stern. Other images showed dozens of containers and their contents floating in the water.
Pakistan’s Hydrographer warned mariners that GFS Pride had sunk 4 nautical miles (7.4km) north-west of Ras al-Sheikh Masud in Oman’s Musandam Peninsula.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said two unnamed container ships reported being hit by unknown projectiles while transiting the Strait of Hormuz between 16:40 and 17:00 GMT on Tuesday.
Both vessels sustained minor damage and were able to continue their journeys, it said.
Merchant ships have faced repeated attacks in the Strait of Hormuz — which links the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea — and elsewhere in the Middle East since the US and Israel’s war with Iran began in February.
At least 24 seafarers have been killed in 106 confirmed incidents, according to the UN’s International Maritime Organization.
The Malta-flagged container ship Safeen Prestige, attacked near Oman on 4 March, is the only other vessel reported to have sunk during that period.
However, maritime risk management group Vanguard said on Wednesday that the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier Cape Dao was reported to be sinking after an unsuccessful rescue attempt, Reuters reported.
One seafarer was killed when the Cape Dao’s bridge and accommodation area were hit by an unknown projectile as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz, north-east of Khasab, Oman, on 23 September.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas shipments usually pass, was effectively shut after the start of the Iran war because of Iranian missile and drone attacks on commercial vessels and a US naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The US and Iran reached a preliminary agreement to end the war and reopen the strait in June, but it fell apart within weeks after Iranian attacks on shipping resumed and the US restored its blockade.
Iran said it would not relinquish any measure of control over the waterway and began targeting vessels using a southern route through Omani waters that avoids its preferred route through Iranian waters.
To keep exports moving from Gulf Arab states, the US military has been protecting tankers carrying oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
Last month, crude exports through the waterway rose to about 80% of pre-war levels of 16 million barrels per day (bpd) on average, according to analysts from shipping data company Kpler, despite a rise in attacks on shipping.