SINGAPORE — Two Singapore-registered container ships were struck by unknown projectiles while crossing the Strait of Hormuz, Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority said on Wednesday, according to Reuters. One of them sank.
The first ship, GFS Pride, was hit on Oct. 13. It was damaged, caught fire and later sank, the authority said. All 21 crew members got off safely and no injuries were reported.
The Hydrographer of Pakistan warned mariners on Wednesday about containers floating from the sunken GFS Pride, Reuters reported.
The second ship, GFS Giselle, was hit on Oct. 14. Its hull was damaged, but it reached a safe anchorage under its own power, the authority said. All 22 crew members were safe.
No Singaporeans were aboard either ship, the MPA said. It said it is in contact with the ships’ management company and is monitoring the situation.
The authority said it was deeply concerned about continued attacks on commercial shipping in the strait, calling such attacks a breach of international law.
Maritime security sources told Reuters a second vessel, the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier Cape Dao, was also reported to be sinking near the strait after an unsuccessful rescue attempt. Cape Dao was first struck on Sept. 23, the sources said.
Reuters also reported claims by two senior Iranian officials that Iran has changed its ship-targeting tactics in the strait over the past 10 days to keep oil prices high and influence the U.S. midterm elections — an account that has not been independently verified.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps offered a different account. Cited by Al Jazeera and Iran’s Mehr news agency, it claimed GFS Pride hit a naval mine while on an unauthorized route. The claim has not been independently verified, and it does not square with the MPA’s account of a projectile strike.
With GFS Pride gone, two vessels have now sunk since the U.S.-Iran war began on Feb. 28, the MPA said, pointing to figures from the International Maritime Organization, the U.N. shipping agency.
On Oct. 13, Britain’s UK Maritime Trade Operations reported a container ship struck by an unidentified projectile in the Strait of Hormuz area, and urged ships to cross with caution and report anything suspicious.
