Second tanker in 24 hours hit by projectile in Strait of Hormuz

On Sunday, a tanker leaving the Strait of Hormuz was hit by an “unidentified” projectile and damaged, the maritime organisation UKMTO said. The incident took place at 12:00 GMT (14:00 Prague time).

UKMTO did not name the vessel, give its flag or say who owns it. This is already the second tanker in the past 24 hours: on Saturday one of them caught fire, while another was damaged.

In addition, the US military’s regional command CENTCOM said overnight into Sunday that a Panama-flagged cargo ship travelling from an Iranian port had been struck in the Gulf of Oman. According to CENTCOM, the crew ignored warnings. The strike was aimed at disabling the ship’s engine without endangering the crew.

The war in the region began in late February with American-Israeli strikes on Iran. In response, Tehran has, among other things, severely restricted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, both with threats and with repeated attacks on tankers and cargo ships. This has led to a noticeable rise in global oil prices.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz