Sailor Killed After Missile Attack On Oil Tanker In Persian Gulf

A seafarer on a Greek-owned oil tanker was killed in an apparent missile attack in the Gulf, its owner said Friday.

The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Velos Sapphire was originally sailing to the Bahrain port of Sitra empty of cargo when the attack happened early on Thursday, Velos Tankers said in a statement.

The Athens-based company said the crew member, whose nationality was not given, had initially been reported missing before he was found fatally injured.

No other injuries were reported, it said.

The explosion was likely caused by an unidentified projectile that struck the vessel's port quarter, sparking a fire that the crew managed to extinguish, the company said.

The tanker subsequently proceeded to the port of Khalifa Bin Salman in Bahrain, it added.

Earlier Friday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that two oil tankers had caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz, a day after Tehran claimed five other tankers had similar fates.

Since the outbreak of the Middle East war on February 28, Tehran has sought to limit traffic through the strategic waterway, which normally carries about one-fifth of global oil consumption.

The United States has in response imposed a blockade on Iranian ports and escorted tankers through the strait.

US Central Command said last month it had helped Gulf countries export 1.5 billion barrels of oil via Hormuz since the summer and has recently said that all mines have been cleared from the waterway.

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