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Two oil tankers collide, catch fire near Strait of Hormuz
[Editor's Note: Follow the KT live blog for live updates on the Israel-Iran conflict.]
Two oil tankers collided and caught fire on Tuesday near the Strait of Hormuz, where electronic interference has surged during the conflict between Iran and Israel, but there were no injuries to crew or spillage reported.
With Iran and Israel firing missiles at each other since Friday, interference has disrupted navigation systems near the vital waterway between Iran and Oman which handles about a fifth of the world's seaborne oil.
The UAE coast guard said it had evacuated 24 people from one of the ships, Adalynn, to the port of Khor Fakkan after the crash 24 nautical miles off its eastern coast.
Personnel on the second tanker, the Front Eagle, were reported safe with no pollution seen after a fire on its deck, according to its owner, the Oslo-listed company Frontline.
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Frontline later said the incident would be investigated, but there was no suggestion of outside interference.
The Front Eagle was loaded with 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude oil and was en route to Zhoushan in China, according to monitoring service
The Adalynn, a Suezmax-class tanker owned by India-based Global Shipping Holding Ltd, had no cargo and was sailing towards the Suez Canal in Egypt, the monitoring service said.
said on X that the Front Eagle was moving southbound at a speed of 13.1 knots when it "executed a starboard (right) turn, resulting in a collision with the port quarter (aft port side)" of the Adalynn, which was proceeding southeast at 4.8 knots.
The Strait of Hormuz links the Gulf to the northwest with the Gulf of Oman to the southeast and the Arabian Sea beyond.
Between the start of 2022 and last month, roughly 17.8 million to 20.8 million barrels of crude, condensate and fuels flowed through daily, according to data from Vortexa.
The multinational, US-led Combined Maritime Force's JMIC information centre said in an advisory this week that it had received reports of electronic interference stemming from the vicinity of the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, on the north shore of the strait, and other areas in the Gulf region.
Iran has in the past threatened to close the strait to traffic in retaliation for Western pressure.
Tehran has not commented on Tuesday's collision or reports of electronic interference.
Dozens of tankers have dropped anchor in major port hubs in the Gulf close to the Strait of Hormuz around Fujairah and Khor Fakkan and Sharjah on the Emirati side, ship tracking data on MarineTraffic showed on Tuesday.
Some shipping companies have decided to pause their voyages due to the heightened tensions, while others were awaiting charter hires due to uncertainty, shipping sources said.
While war risk insurance costs for ships heading to Israeli ports have soared in recent days, the costs so far remain stable for voyages through the Gulf, insurance industry sources said on Tuesday.
"Rates, for the time being, remain stable with no noticeable increases since the latest hostilities between Israel and Iran. This position could change dramatically depending on any further escalation or general conflagration in the area," David Smith, head of marine with insurance broker McGill and Partners, said.
