Oman rescues 25 from burning oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz
Incident comes as Iran says four oil tankers attempting to use ‘unauthorised routes’ to cross the waterway were halted.
Oman has rescued 25 crew members from a burning crude oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz as ships continue to be targeted in the besieged waterway.
The Omani Maritime Security Centre said in a statement on Friday that it had evacuated the people on board the RITI merchant ship. Oman said the vessel was flying the Panamanian flag, and the tracking website MarineTraffic identified it as a crude oil tanker.
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The incident came as Iran said four tankers attempting to use “unauthorised routes” to cross the Strait of Hormuz were halted.
It is unclear whether one of the vessels was the tanker whose crew Omani maritime authorities evacuated.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said all four vessels were carrying oil and that the ships had been halted following “incidents” or after hitting mines.
“Two offending oil tankers, one in the eastern part and the other in the western part of the Strait of Hormuz, which were attempting to pass through the unauthorised route, encountered incidents and were brought to a halt in the waters south of the strait,” the IRGC said in a statement on Friday.
Hours later, the IRGC said two more tankers – each carrying more than two million barrels of oil – “exploded and caught fire” as a result of hitting mines while attempting to pass through an “unauthorised route”.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Navy said on Friday that it struck and destroyed an unmanned enemy craft to the east of the strait.
Iran has repeatedly warned vessels against passing through the strait without Tehran’s permission.
It has claimed responsibility for attacks on ships and said last month that vessels attempting to transit Hormuz without authorisation would face “destruction”.
Tehran has asserted control over much of the waterway since the US and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28.
The US military denies the naval mine claims. On Friday, United States Central Command chief Brad Cooper said the Strait of Hormuz’s “internationally recognised primary transit routes” had been successfully cleared of Iranian sea mines.
Shipping in the Strait of Hormuz is operating at about 70 percent below pre-war levels, the UK’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Friday.
