Singapore-flagged container ship sinks in Strait of Hormuz; Iran and Singapore give differing accounts

A container ship sailing under Singapore's flag has gone down in the Strait of Hormuz. Singaporean officials blame an unidentified projectile, while Iran says the vessel ran into naval mines, according to BBC News and PBS NewsHour.

The ship, GFS Pride, was attacked on Tuesday and caught fire, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said, as reported by the BBC. The authority said all 21 people aboard were taken off safely and nobody was hurt.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards offered another version of events. The BBC reported that the Guards said a vessel hit mines and sank while traveling a path through the waterway that Iran considers unauthorized. Photos the Guards released seemed to show dark smoke above a container ship that was still floating but tilted down at the rear, with shipping containers and their cargo drifting nearby, according to the BBC.

PBS NewsHour said Iranian state television broadcast video it presented as showing the burning vessel. PBS noted that the footage had not been verified by outside sources and said this was the first such incident Iran had reported since the conflict started.

Singaporean authorities also said a second ship under their flag, GFS Giselle, took a projectile hit on Wednesday that damaged its hull, the BBC reported. The vessel and its 22 crew made it to a safe anchorage.

Pakistan's hydrographic office alerted sailors that GFS Pride sank roughly 4 nautical miles northwest of Ras al-Sheikh Masud, on Oman's Musandam Peninsula, according to the BBC. In a separate notice, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said two container ships it did not identify were hit by projectiles of unknown origin on Tuesday afternoon, sustained light damage and kept sailing.

The BBC reported that merchant ships in the area have faced frequent attacks since the US and Israel began fighting Iran in February. The UN's International Maritime Organization has recorded 106 confirmed incidents in which at least 24 seafarers died. Only one other ship, the Malta-flagged Safeen Prestige, had been reported sunk in that time, the BBC said. The BBC also cited Reuters as reporting that the risk firm Vanguard said a further vessel, the Cape Dao, appeared to be going down following a failed rescue.

A tentative deal reached by Washington and Tehran in June to halt the fighting and reopen the strait fell apart within weeks, according to the BBC. Iran has since gone after vessels taking a southern passage through Omani waters, and US forces have been escorting oil tankers through the area.

In related developments, PBS reported that Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are backed by Iran, claimed an attack on the main offices of Saudi energy company Aramco without causing injuries. Saudi Arabia said it shot down two ballistic missiles over Riyadh, PBS reported.

Compiled by True News from reporting by PBS NewsHour and BBC News. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/126