Daijiworld Media Network - Doha
Doha, Oct 8: A tanker was struck by multiple projectiles in the Gulf north of Qatar, with casualties reported in the incident, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said.
The incident occurred around 51 nautical miles (94 km) from Madinat Al Shamal, according to UKMTO.
Maritime intelligence firm Vanguard identified the vessel as the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged oil and chemical tanker Acers. The vessel was reportedly carrying cargo on Saturday while sailing towards the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway linking the Gulf with the Gulf of Oman.
Merchant vessels have faced repeated attacks in the region since the United States and Israel began their war with Iran in February. According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), at least 24 seafarers have been killed in 93 confirmed incidents.
The IMO said the most recent attack resulting in casualties occurred on September 9, when two sailors were killed in an attack on the Panama-flagged tanker El Gaia in the Strait of Hormuz, north of Oman's Musandam Peninsula.
Martin Kelly, head of advisory at EOS Risk Group, said the latest incident was also the first reported attack on a vessel this far west of the Strait of Hormuz since the September 9 attack.
Meanwhile, Vanguard reported a fire aboard another tanker on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman, around 40 km east of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. The vessel was believed to be the Marshall Islands-flagged Dhalkut. The cause of the fire remains unclear, and UKMTO has not reported an incident in the area.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which around one-fifth of global oil and gas shipments normally pass, was effectively closed after the Iran war began, amid Iranian missile and drone attacks on commercial vessels and a US naval blockade of Iranian ports.
A preliminary agreement between the United States and Iran to end the war and reopen the waterway was reached in June, but it collapsed within weeks after attacks on shipping resumed and Washington reinstated its blockade.
Iran maintained that it would retain some measure of control over the waterway and targeted vessels using a southern route through Omani waters, which avoids the preferred route through Iranian waters.
The US military has since been providing protection for tankers carrying oil through the Strait of Hormuz to help maintain exports from Gulf Arab states.
Analysts at shipping data company Kpler said crude oil exports through the waterway averaged around 12 million barrels per day over the past two weeks, approximately 80 per cent of pre-war levels.