TEHRAN: A seafarer on a Greek-owned oil tanker was killed in an apparent missile attack in the Gulf, its owner said Friday, after Tehran said ships were on fire after hitting mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Velos Sapphire was sailing to Bahrain empty of cargo when the attack happened on Thursday, Velos Tankers said in a statement carried by the Greek news agency ANA.
The Athens-based company said the explosion was likely caused by an unidentified projectile that struck the vessel's port quarter, sparking a fire.
On Thursday, Iranian media reported that five oil tankers and a tugboat caught fire after hitting mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
And in a statement carried by state media Friday, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said two more oil tankers were on fire in the strategic gateway to the energy-rich Gulf.
British maritime agency UKMTO said on Friday that the master of a tanker transiting the strait the previous day had reported an explosion "at the waterline, port side" off Oman.
"The crew are safe... The tanker is still under its own power and is continuing on its voyage," it added.
Since the outbreak of the Middle East war on February 28, Tehran has sought to limit traffic through the 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 that it had helped Gulf countries export 1.5 billion barrels of oil via Hormuz since the summer and recently said all mines had been cleared from the waterway.
"Two violating oil tankers -- one east of the Strait of Hormuz and the other within the Strait itself -- that attempted to transit via an unauthorised route struck mines," the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran's military, said in a statement carried by state TV.
"The two tankers had deactivated all of their navigation and identification systems and were attempting to exit the Strait of Hormuz... with the support of the aggressor and terrorist American military, but following the collision with mines, they caught fire and were brought to a stop."