In an apparent change in strategy of attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz a tanker had explosives attached its hull by a small boat.
The UKMTO said that in an incident 25nm Northeast of Khasab, Oman on 29 October a tanker was approached on the port side by a small boat which attached two explosive devices to the hull above the waterline.The subsequent blasts resulted in a fire in the engine room which temporarily disabled the vessel. The fire is now reported as extinguished and vessel is continuing to its next port of call,” UKMTO said in an alert. According to maritime security firm Vanguard Tech the tanker involved was the Panama-flagged Louise 1. The 159,092 dwt tanker is owned by Panama-based Aquarius Maritime Ventures based on data from Pole Star Global.The incident was reported to have taken place at 22:12 hrs UTC on 29 October.
The attack marks a change in modus operandi of Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz which up till now have either involved the targeting of vessels with drones and missiles or firing at the ship from small craft. However, in this case explosives were attached directly to the vessel’s hull from the small craft.
It was the second attack reported in the space of a few hours with UKMTO saying it was informed by a Company Security Officer that a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile while completing an outbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz at 16:00 hrs UTC on 29 October. A graphic with the report shows the incident to be southern corridor close to Oman.
Meanwhile an earlier incident reported by UKMTO and Vanguard Tech where a tanker was reported to be on fire a submerged was clarified as involving a regional trading dhow.An update from UKMTO said: “Regional authorities have identified the vessel as a dhow, which was involved in a maritime security incident, igniting a large fire onboard causing the dhow to list and sink. Local authorities have confirmed that the crew have been safely evacuatedThe past month has seen a sharp increase in the number attacks by Iran on shipping and IMO figures show 34 confirmed attacks on vessels between 28 September and 27 October, mostly in the Strait of Hormuz although Iran has targeted shipping the wider region in more recent weeks as well.Listen to a podcast analysing recent attacks