A photo purports to show the fire that broke out on the Front Altair oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman. Photo: Iranian Students News Agency via AP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) issued a warning on Monday after receiving multiple third-party reports of a vessel on fire 63 nautical miles (116.6 kilometers) southeast of al-Faw, Iraq.
The UKMTO has officially classified the incident as suspicious activity. The crew’s current status, the exact extent of the damage, and any potential environmental impacts remain unknown.
The warning issued on Monday did not identify the vessel or specify the cause of the fire.
According to UKMTO, vessels transiting the northern Arabian Gulf are advised to exercise extreme caution and report any suspicious activity to authorities.
Attacks and hostile security incidents targeting commercial vessels in the far northern Arabian Gulf near Iraq have surged drastically, turning the waters surrounding Iraq’s primary oil terminals into an active maritime conflict zone.
A few days ago, a tanker’s master claimed being hit by an unidentified missile 30 nautical miles (55.5 kilometers) southeast of al-Faw in a different incident.