Oman rescues 25 from burning oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz

Incident comes as Iran says three oil tankers were halted while attempting to use ‘unauthorised routes’ to cross Hormuz.

Oman has rescued 25 crew members from a burning crude oil tanker as ships continue to be targeted in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Omani Maritime Security Centre said in a statement on Friday that it had evacuated the people aboard the RITI merchant ship. Oman said the vessel was flying the Panamanian flag, while the tracking website MarineTraffic identified it as a crude oil tanker.

The incident came as Iran said three oil tankers had been halted while attempting to use “unauthorised routes” to cross the Strait of Hormuz.

It is unclear whether one of the vessels was the tanker whose crew were evacuated by Omani maritime authorities.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said all three vessels were carrying oil and that one was a supertanker. It added that the ships had been halted following “incidents” or after hitting mines.

“Two offending oil tankers, one in the eastern part and the other in the western part of the Strait of Hormuz, which were attempting to pass through the unauthorised route, encountered incidents and were brought to a halt in the waters south of the strait,” the IRGC said in a statement.

Later, in a separate statement, the IRGC said a third tanker – a supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of oil – “exploded and caught fire today as a result of attempting to pass through an unauthorised route”.

Meanwhile, to the east of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s navy said it struck and destroyed an unmanned enemy craft on Friday.

Iran has repeatedly warned vessels against passing through the strait without Tehran’s permission.

It has claimed responsibility for attacks on ships and said last month that vessels attempting to pass through the strait without authorisation would face “destruction”.

Tehran has asserted control over much of the waterway since the US and Israel launched the war on February 28.

The US military denies the naval mine claims. On Friday, United States Central Command chief Brad Cooper said the Strait of Hormuz’s “internationally recognised primary transit routes” had been successfully cleared of Iranian sea mines.