A small boat attached two limpet mines to the hull of a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire in its engine room and temporarily disabling the vessel, maritime sources said on Friday. It was the first successful use of such explosives in the waterway since the United States war with Iran began in February.
The crew was safe, there was no environmental impact and the fire had been extinguished, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said in an advisory note, adding that the vessel, which it did not name, was continuing to its next port of call. The incident occurred on Thursday, 25 nautical miles, or 46 kilometres, northeast of Oman’s Khasab, UKMTO said.
The tanker, the Panama flagged Louise 1, was targeted with limpet mines, according to assessments from three maritime security sources. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. The strike followed a separate attempt in September using such devices which did not detonate, two of the sources said.
The apparent ability of a small craft to approach a transiting tanker, deploy explosive devices and withdraw presents a significant security concern, particularly in the strait’s congested shipping lanes, the Greece based maritime risk group Marisks said in a note on Friday. Marisks said limpet mines were first deployed in the region in 2017 and are cheap and easily available.
Ukrainian forces also hit the Louise 1 in July with naval drones in the Black Sea over what Ukraine’s security service said was its role in transporting Russian oil as part of the shadow fleet. The vessel’s Panama based operator, listed in shipping databases as Aquarius Maritime Ventures, could not be immediately reached for comment.