A Singapore-flagged container ship sank in the Strait of Hormuz after being struck by an unknown projectile on Tuesday, Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority said. The vessel, GFS Pride, caught fire and went down 4 nautical miles northwest of Ras al-Sheikh Masud on Oman's Musandam Peninsula. All 21 crew members were evacuated with no injuries reported.
A second Singapore-flagged container ship, GFS Giselle, sustained hull damage from a projectile strike on Wednesday but reached safe anchorage with its 22 crew intact, the authority added.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed the vessel hit naval mines while using an "unauthorised" route through the strait. The Guards released photographs showing black smoke rising from a container vessel and dozens of containers floating in the water, though the ship appeared still afloat in those images.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency separately reported that two unnamed container ships were struck by unknown projectiles between 16:40 and 17:00 GMT on Tuesday. Both sustained minor damage and continued their passages.
The incidents mark an escalation in attacks on merchant vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway connecting the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea through which roughly one-fifth of global oil and gas shipments normally pass. Since the US and Israel's war with Iran began in February, at least 24 seafarers have been killed in 106 confirmed incidents, according to the UN's International Maritime Organization. GFS Pride is only the second vessel reported sunk during this period, the first being the Malta-flagged Safeen Prestige attacked on 4 March. Maritime risk firm Vanguard reported that the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier Cape Dao was reported sinking on Wednesday after an unsuccessful rescue attempt following an attack on 23 September that killed one seafarer.
The US and Iran reached a preliminary agreement in June to end the war and reopen the strait, but the deal collapsed within weeks after Iranian attacks on shipping resumed and the US reinstated its blockade. Iran has been targeting vessels using a southern route through Omani waters that avoids its preferred route. Last month, crude exports through the waterway reached approximately 80 percent of pre-war levels despite increased attacks.