CONTAINER SHIP SINKS AFTER STRAIT OF HORMUZ ATTACK, CREW SAFE

A Singapore-flagged container ship, GFS Pride, sank in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday after an unknown projectile struck it, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said. All 21 crew members evacuated safely, and the strike caused damage and a fire. Iran's Revolutionary Guards gave a different account, saying the vessel hit naval mines on an "unauthorised" route through the strait. Pakistan's Hydrographer's office said the ship sank near Ras al-Sheikh Masud, on Oman's Musandam Peninsula. The Guards released photographs showing smoke and floating containers.

A second Singapore-flagged ship, GFS Giselle, suffered hull damage from a projectile strike on Wednesday but reached safe anchorage with its 22 crew. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said projectiles struck two further unnamed ships in the strait on Tuesday, causing minor damage. Merchant vessels have faced repeated attacks in the strait and the wider Middle East since the US, Israel and Iran went to war in February. The UN's International Maritime Organisation has recorded at least 24 seafarers killed across 106 confirmed incidents in that period. Maritime risk group Vanguard said the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier Cape Dao was sinking on Wednesday after a failed rescue, Reuters reported.

The Strait of Hormuz, linking the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea, carries about a fifth of the world's oil and gas shipments, according to reports. One seafarer died on 23 September when a projectile struck the Cape Dao's bridge near Khasab, Oman. Singaporean authorities and Iran's Revolutionary Guards have given differing accounts of what caused the GFS Pride to sink. The authority said no injuries occurred among the crews of either ship.