\n<\/p>\n
A tanker has been struck by “multiple projectiles” north of Qatar in the Gulf, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency.<\/b><\/p>\n
The incident – a rare attack deep inside the Gulf – happened 51 nautical miles (94km) from Madinat al-Shamal with casualties reported, the UKMTO said.<\/p>\n
Maritime intelligence firm Vanguard identified the vessel as the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged oil and chemical tanker Acers. On Saturday it was reported as sailing towards the Strait of Hormuz waterway, which connects the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.<\/p>\n
Merchant vessels have come under repeated attack in the region since the US and Israel’s war with Iran began in February.<\/p>\n
At least 24 seafarers have been killed in 93 confirmed incidents, according to the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO).<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Also on Thursday, Vanguard amended an earlier report that had said there was a fire on board another tanker in the Gulf of Oman, about 40km east of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. <\/p>\n
The company clarified that there were no indications a fire occurred on the vessel, which it had identified as the Marshall Islands-flagged Dhalkut.<\/p>\n
The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas shipments usually pass, was effectively closed after the start of the Iran war due to Tehran’s missile and drone attacks on commercial vessels and a US naval blockade of Iranian ports.<\/p>\n
The US and Iran reached a preliminary agreement to end the war and reopen the strait in June, but it collapsed within weeks after Iranian attacks on shipping resumed and the US reinstated its blockade.<\/p>\n
Iran insisted it would not give up some measure of control over the waterway and targeted vessels using a southern route through Omani waters that avoids its preferred route through Iranian waters.<\/p>\n
To keep exports flowing from Gulf Arab states, the US military has been providing protection for tankers shuttling oil through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Over the past two weeks, crude exports through the waterway have averaged 12 million barrels per day (bpd), which is around 80% of pre-war levels, according to analysts from shipping data company Kpler.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n