Middle EastOperationsTankers

Two killed in attack on Zodiac Maritime-operated tanker off Oman

Two crewmembers have been killed after a product tanker operated by Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Maritime was attacked off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea.

The attack on Thursday night targeted the Liberian-flagged 50,000 dwt tanker Mercer Street, approximately 159 km from the Port of Duqm.

It was first reported by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) saying that it does not believe the incident is piracy-related. 

Zodiac Maritime confirmed the attack on Friday suspecting piracy on the Japanese-owned ship. A few hours later, the London-based firm stated that the incident led to the deaths of two crewmembers – a UK national and Romanian national. The VesselsValue data shows the 2013-built vessel belongs to Taihei Kaiun KK.

“With profound sadness, we understand the incident onboard the Mercer Street on 29 July, 2021 has resulted in the deaths of two crew members onboard: a Romanian national and a UK national. We are not aware of harm to any other personnel,” the company said in a statement.

According to Zodiac, details of the incident are still being established and an investigation is currently underway. The vessel is sailing under the control of its crew with a US naval escort.

Splash has reported on other Israel-linked ships being targeted in recent months, such as the incident on a car carrier that suffered a series of explosions in February and the recent attack on the containership CSAV Tyndall, also formerly owned by Zodiac Maritime.

Adis Ajdin

Adis is an experienced news reporter with a background in finance, media and education. He has written across the spectrum of offshore energy and ocean industries for many years and is a member of International Federation of Journalists. Previously he had written for Navingo media group titles including Offshore Energy, Subsea World News and Marine Energy.

Comments

  1. Of course no mention of attacks and damage to Iranian or Iranian-related ships in the same neighbourhood, allegedly perpetrated by Israeli forces. This covert and very dangerous conflict has been going on for some time, with barely a mention in the mainstream media. It ramped up when it became clear Israel was not going to force the US to attack Iran, the regional power. Provided it does not worsen beyond a tit-for-tat level, it is manageable. I suspect that the US thinks it has done enough by destroying Iraq, crippling Syria, and regime-changing Egypt, to render the Middle East subservient to Israel, it’s local representative. Obama was impatient to “pivot to Asia” to confront and confine China, and the Pentagon is behind schedule pulling it’s forces out of the Middle East and transferring them to S.E.Asia. And so it goes……..

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