Omani authorities have rescued 25 crew members from a burning tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, in the latest of a run of incidents in the waterway.
The Omani Maritime Security Centre said in a statement on Friday that it had evacuated everyone aboard the RITI, a merchant vessel flying the Panamanian flag. The tracking site MarineTraffic identified the ship as a crude oil tanker. Hiru News reported that the Royal Navy of Oman took part in the operation alongside the security centre, and that the vessel was about 1.6 nautical miles off the Musandam coast. The rescued crew were given medical treatment.
What set the ship on fire has not been established. Hiru described the vessel as having come under attack. Oman’s own statement refers only to a burning tanker and an evacuation.
Separately on Friday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said four oil tankers attempting to cross the strait by “unauthorised routes” had been halted. Two, it said, were stopped after “incidents” in the eastern and western parts of the strait. Hours later the IRGC said two more tankers, each carrying over two million barrels, had “exploded and caught fire” after striking mines on an unauthorised route. Al Jazeera notes it is unclear whether the ship Oman evacuated was among the four.
That framing is now familiar. When a tanker was struck north of the Musandam Peninsula in September, killing two Filipino sailors, Saudi Arabia blamed Iran while Tehran said the vessels had hit mines on an unauthorised route — the same explanation offered again this week.
The strait remains the principal route for Gulf oil exports, and repeated attacks there bear on fuel import costs for countries including Sri Lanka. A Kitco market report carried in Colombo on Saturday cited the war with Iran keeping oil prices elevated as one reason gold has struggled despite a weaker dollar.
Not reported: The nationalities of the RITI’s crew, the extent of their injuries and the ship’s cargo and destination are not given in either filing.
