Singapore Says Container Ship Struck by Projectile in Strait of Hormuz

Singapore authorities say all 21 crew members of the GFS Pride were safely evacuated after an unidentified projectile struck the vessel on Tuesday.

A Singapore-flagged container ship has sunk after being hit by unidentified gunfire while passing through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Singapore authorities.

All 21 crew members of the GFS Pride were evacuated and no injuries were reported after Tuesday's attack, which caused damage and a fire, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said.

Another Singapore-flagged container ship, the GFS Giselle, sustained hull damage after being hit by gunfire on Wednesday, but was able to reach a safe berth with 22 crew members on board.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps announced that a ship hit naval mines while passing through an "unauthorized" route in the Strait of Hormuz and sank.

The Guard released photographs that appeared to show a plume of black smoke rising from a container ship that was still afloat, but down at the stern. In other photos, dozens of containers and their contents can be seen floating in the water.

The Pakistan Hydrograph warned mariners that the GFS Pride had sunk 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) northwest of Ras al-Sheikh Masood on Oman's Musandam Peninsula.

Meanwhile, the UK Maritime Trade Operations Agency (UKMTO) said two unidentified container ships reported being hit by unidentified projectiles while passing through the Strait of Hormuz between 16:40 and 17:00 on Tuesday.

Both ships suffered minor damage and were able to continue with the passage, it added.

Since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran in February, merchant ships have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz - which connects the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea - and elsewhere in the Middle East.

According to the UN's International Maritime Organization, at least 24 seafarers have died in 106 confirmed incidents.

The Maltese-flagged container ship Safeen Prestige, which was attacked near Oman on March 4, is the only other vessel reported to have sunk at the time.

On 23 September, a seafarer was killed when an unidentified projectile hit the Cape Dao bridge and accommodation area while crossing the Strait of Hormuz, northeast of Khosb, Oman.

The Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil and gas shipments usually pass, was practically closed after the start of the Iran war due to Iran's missile and drone attacks on commercial ships and the US naval blockade of Iranian ports.

The US and Iran reached an initial agreement in June to end the war and reopen the strait, but it collapsed within weeks after Iran resumed attacks on shipping and reinstated the US blockade.

Iran insisted it would not relinquish some of its control measures over the waterway and began targeting ships using the southern route through Omani waters that avoided its preferred route through Iranian waters.

To maintain the flow of exports from the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, the US military has backed tankers that transport oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

Crude exports by waterway last month rose to about 80 percent of pre-war levels at an average of 16 million barrels per day (bpd), despite an increase in shipping attacks, according to analysts at shipping data firm Kpler.