A tanker has been struck by “multiple projectiles” north of Qatar in the Gulf, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations company.
The incident occurred 51 nautical miles (94km) from Madinat al-Shamal and there were casualties reported, the UKMTO said.
Maritime intelligence firm Vanguard recognized the vessel as the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged oil and chemical tanker Acers, which was reported as laden with cargo on Saturday as it sailed towards the Strait of Hormuz waterway, which connects the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.
Merchant vessels have come under repeated attack in the area since the US and Israel’s conflict with Iran started in February.
At least 24 seafarers have been killed in 93 confirmed incidents, according to the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO).
The IMO said the last incident that resulted in casualties was on 9 September, when two sailors were killed in an attack on the Panama-flagged tanker El Gaia in the Strait of Hormuz, just north of Oman’s Musandam peninsula.
This is also the first reported attack on a ship this far west of the Strait of Hormuz since that same day, according to Martin Kelly, head of advisory at EOS Risk Group.
Vanguard also reported a fire on board another tanker on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman, about 40km east of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. It said the vessel was seemingly to be the Marshall Islands-flagged Dhalkut.
The cause of the fire is unclear and the UKMTO has not reported an incident in the space.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world oil and gasoline shipments often go, was successfully closed after the begin of the Iran conflict due to Tehran’s missile and drone attacks on industrial vessels and a US naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The US and Iran reached a preliminary settlement to finish the conflict and reopen the strait in June, but it collapsed within weeks after Iranian attacks on delivery resumed and the US reinstated its blockade.
Iran insisted it would not give up some measure of control over the waterway and focused vessels utilizing a southern route through Omani waters that avoids its most popular route through Iranian waters.
To keep exports flowing from Gulf Arab states, the US navy has been offering safety for tankers shuttling oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
Over the previous two weeks, crude exports through the waterway have averaged 12 million barrels per day (bpd), which is around 80% of pre-war ranges, according to analysts from delivery information company Kpler.
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