Crewman dies after tanker has been hit in the Persian Gulf

Um crew member of a tanker died after the vessel was hit by an unidentified projectile in the Persian Gulf, today the shipowner announced the day after the attack.

The ship “Velos Sapphire”, which sails under the flag of the Marshall Islands, followed without load towards the port of Sitra, Bahrain, when it was hit by an unidentified projectile, according to a statement from the Greek shipowner Velos Tanker, released by the Greek agency ANA.

The impact caused a fire, which the crew managed to put out.

The nationality of the deceased crew member was not disclosed and there was no record of other victims, according to the same source.

The Revolutionary Guard of Iran reported this morning, once again, that tankers were on fire after hitting mines in the Ormuz Strait Strategic Region, the central point of the conflict between Iran and the United States.

Already on Thursday, the Armed Forces had stated that five tankers and one tugboat had experienced a similar situation.

In turn, the British Maritime Safety Agency UKMTO reported that a vessel suffered an explosion on the same day off the coast of Oman without causing any casualties or serious harm.

In mid-October, data from security company Vanguard, International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and UKMTO indicated an increase in the number of attacks.

The Revolutionary Guard today indicated that it is “two irregular tankers, one east of the Strait of Ormuz and the other inside the strait itself, who tried to cross it by an unauthorized route”, with the support of the U.S. army, according to a statement released by state television.

The two vessels had disabled their navigation systems, but eventually hit mines and “fired,” the same source added.

Such statements have become more frequent in recent weeks, while Washington claims to have carried out most of the demining of this crucial maritime route.

To date, maritime safety agencies have not confirmed these new allegations from Tehran.

Iran claims control of the Strait of Ormuz, through which one-fifth of the world hydrocarbons moved before the war triggered at the end of February by Israeli and American attacks against Tehran, and usually attacks ships that venture through the site without their permission, sailing along the coast of Oman.

In response, Washington imposes a blockade on Iranian ports and escorts oil tankers along that route in a scenario where negotiations between the two countries are at a standstill.