Muscat, Sep. 1 (SANA) Two supertankers carrying Saudi crude oil were struck by unidentified projectiles minutes apart while sailing out through the Strait of Hormuz late Monday, maritime risk management firm Marisks and ship-tracking company Kpler said Tuesday.
Reuters quoted Marisks as saying the Saudi-flagged supertanker Sidr, operated by Saudi Arabia’s Bahri, was targeted by unidentified projectiles about 16.6 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman.
Minutes later, the Liberian-flagged Senegal Prosperity, operated by South Korea’s Sinokor, was struck by three unidentified projectiles about 17 nautical miles east of Khasab. All crew were reported safe.
Marisks said the two nearly simultaneous incidents represented a “further escalation in the threat environment within the Omani corridor.”
Kpler data showed that each tanker had loaded 2 million barrels of Saudi crude oil at the Ju’aymah terminal last week. Saudi Aramco resumed loading and selling oil from inside the strait in August.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), earlier reported that three projectiles struck a tanker in the same area as it was leaving the Strait of Hormuz, in what appeared to be the same incident involving the Senegal Prosperity.
F.J.
