Oman’s Royal Navy evacuated 25 crew members from a Panama-flagged commercial vessel on Friday after it was targeted and caught fire off the coast of the northern Musandam governorate, which overlooks the Strait of Hormuz.
The vessel, named RITI, was hit about 1.6 nautical miles off the Musandam coast, Oman’s Maritime Security Center said in a statement. The navy carried out the evacuation in coordination with the center, and the crew received the necessary medical care.
The center did not say who carried out the attack or how the vessel was struck. It gave no details on the damage or on whether the fire had been put out.
Authorities did not say whether any crew members were injured.
Two incidents on Thursday
The evacuation came a day after two other attacks on shipping near the strait. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center (UKMTO) reported that a tanker was hit by an unidentified projectile while sailing out of the strait, as reported earlier.
UKMTO also reported on Thursday evening that a small boat approached a tanker about 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab and attached two explosive devices to its hull above the waterline, Anadolu Agency reported. The blasts caused a fire in the engine room and temporarily disabled the vessel.
The strait carries around a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade. Shipping through it has faced repeated disruption since fighting between the United States and Iran resumed in July.
