Omani authorities said the Panama-flagged tanker El Gaia is being towed to port after a fire aboard the vessel was brought under control, while two crew members remain missing. Oman’s Maritime Security Center said the tanker was about 103 nautical miles northeast of Musandam Governorate, and a Royal Navy of Oman vessel evacuated 23 crew members and provided medical care. Search operations are continuing for the two missing seafarers, whom India’s Ministry of External Affairs identified as among the vessel’s 14 Indian crew members.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said El Gaia struck a naval mine while attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, but U.S. Central Command rejected that account, saying the tanker had instead been struck by an Iranian missile last month and again by a drone over the weekend. The incident marks the second time the vessel has been hit, following the earlier missile strike that reportedly left it inoperable. Iran has insisted it will not give up some measure of control over the waterway and has targeted vessels using a southern route through Omani waters that avoids its preferred route through Iranian waters, deepening friction in one of the world’s most critical energy shipping chokepoints.
Source: gCaptain — https://gcaptain.com/oman-says-el-gaia-being-towed-to-port-two-crew-missing/
Tags: Strait of Hormuz, Iran, Oman, Tanker Attack
