From BBC News · · 1m 40s
Two sailors missing after tanker hit in Hormuz
A Panama-flagged tanker burns off Oman, and the accounts of what struck it do not match.
In brief
A Panama-flagged tanker burns off Oman, and the accounts of what struck it do not match. The Strait of Hormuz is effectively shut, and the clashing stories about each attack are part of the fight over who controls it. Originally reported by BBC News.
Two missing off Musandam
Oman says two sailors are missing and 23 were rescued after an attack on the oil tanker El Gaia, struck 1.3 nautical miles north of the Musandam peninsula.
Engine room on fire
Oman's Maritime Security Centre said a fire broke out in the Panama-flagged vessel's engine room. It was under tow to an Omani port on Tuesday.
Three versions of one attack
Iran's Revolutionary Guards blamed naval mines on a restricted route. The US military called that false, saying an Iranian missile hit the ship last month and a drone hit it again over the weekend.
“struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz”
The same script before
Weeks earlier, Iran said the Saudi-owned supertanker Sidr hit a mine. Saudi authorities said Iran targeted it, and security firms reported projectiles north of Musandam. Two Filipino sailors died.
A body count at sea
The International Maritime Organization counts at least 22 seafarers killed in 79 confirmed incidents in the strait and the wider Middle East since the war with Iran began in late February.
A fifth of the world's oil, stalled
The waterway that normally carries a fifth of global oil and gas shipments is effectively closed. A June deal to reopen it collapsed within weeks, and Iran now hunts ships using the southern Omani route.
“Iran has insisted it will not give up some measure of control over the waterway”
The big picture
The Strait of Hormuz is effectively shut, and the clashing stories about each attack are part of the fight over who controls it.
