Crew leaves burning vessel after reported attack near Hormuz

The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said Monday that the crew of a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz safely abandoned ship after it was hit by an unknown projectile and caught fire. UKMTO said the crew had been recovered by a tugboat. It said the fire had not been put out, the vessel was adrift and there was no reported environmental impact.

In an earlier statement, UKMTO said it had received a report that the ship was on fire eight nautical miles northwest of Kumzar, Oman.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said two oil tankers trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz had exploded and been brought to a halt.

The incident was reported as the United States and Iran vie for control over the waterway. The source account said Iran had blockaded the Strait of Hormuz during the war, a route through which one-fifth of the world's oil and LNG used to pass. It said Iran, under a memorandum of understanding with the United States, had to work with Oman on the waterway's future administration and had vowed it would never be the same.

The source account also said Iran had in recent weeks hit tankers using a route close to the Omani coast in an effort to push vessels into Iranian waters and make them pay for safe passage.