[IsraelTimes] UK agency says Singaporean-flagged ship hit by projectile and sank; unclear if two statements refer to same vessel
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that a ship caught fire and sank in the Strait of Hormuz because of a mine, while British security firm Vanguard also reported a sinking.
“A container ship attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz using an unauthorized and dangerous shipping lane struck a mine that exploded,” said the navy of the IRGC, the Iranian paramilitary tasked with advancing the ideology of the 1979 revolution.
Images released by the IRGC showed a plume of black smoke rising from a ship, while dozens of containers that had fallen into the sea floated on the water. The IRGC said the ship was carrying more than 2,500 containers.
Iran claims control of the strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s hydrocarbons passed before the Middle East war. It regularly targets ships it accuses of transiting without authorization, while the US has imposed its own blockade on Iran’s ports.
According to Vanguard, the GFS Pride, a Singapore-flagged container ship, was struck by a projectile on Tuesday and sank.
It was not clear if the two statements referred to the same ship.
Vanguard reported three other ships struck on Tuesday, with two of them continuing on their way and the fate of the third unknown.
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