All 22 crew members of a Liberia-flagged crude oil tanker have been safely evacuated after the vessel was hit by an unidentified projectile off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, British maritime agencies and India’s shipping minister said.

The tanker, the Dominica Prosperity, was struck about 14 nautical miles north-west of Ras Al-Khaimah on Wednesday, 11 November, while drifting off the port of Mina Saqr. The impact caused a fire in the engine room, according to reports published on Thursday by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency.

India’s shipping minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, said the UAE Coast Guard evacuated the entire crew, including 19 Indian nationals, and that no injuries were reported. Firefighting efforts were under way at the time of the reports, UKMTO said.

What happened to the vessel

Maritime security firm Ambrey said the vessel was struck at the stern while leaving the Strait of Hormuz, and reported no injuries or pollution. The Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) identified the ship as the Dominica Prosperity and said an unknown projectile hit its engine-room area, according to a maritime security briefing published on Friday.

UKMTO recorded the attack in warning 204-26, timed at 18:00 UTC on 11 November. The vessel’s propulsion, machinery damage, pollution condition and salvage arrangements had not been confirmed when the warning was issued.

The Dominica Prosperity is a Liberia-flagged crude oil tanker built in 2011, with a deadweight of about 297,000 tonnes. Athens-based maritime security firm MARISKS said the tanker is owned by South Korea’s Haut Brion 56 Ltd and operated by Sinokor Maritime.

Shipping under strain in the Gulf

Attacks on commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf and around the Strait of Hormuz have increased in recent weeks. Before the US-Israeli conflict with Iran began in February, the strait carried nearly one-fifth of the world’s crude oil, according to Reuters.

Iran’s military said on Thursday that four oil tankers had been hit by explosions in the Strait of Hormuz after entering areas it considers restricted. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the Iranian account. That claim followed an earlier Iranian report that two supertankers had been disabled by explosions on the night of 11 November.

Shipping through the strait remains disrupted as uncertainty persists over efforts to reach a US-Iran agreement to end the war and restore maritime traffic. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Dominica Prosperity, and the source of the projectile has not been established.

Beaches reopen after earlier spill

Authorities in Ras Al-Khaimah and Sharjah said on Wednesday they had reopened several beaches after closures prompted by an oil spill from a tanker damaged in a suspected attack in the Gulf last month. The spill spread along parts of the UAE’s northern coastline and prompted closures in Ras Al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain.

October saw the highest number of attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters since the conflict began, according to data compiled by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The spill has underscored the environmental risks from attacks on commercial shipping in the Gulf since the US-Israeli war on Iran began in February.

Sources: Reuters and The DeepDraft