British navy group: Hijackers have left vessel off UAE coast

FUJAIRAH – The hijackers who seized a vas disconnected the seashore of the United Arab Emirates successful the Gulf of Oman near the targeted vessel connected Wednesday, the British navy reported, without elaborating.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported that the “incident,” which it had described arsenic a imaginable hijacking the nighttime before, was present “complete.” It did not supply further details.

It was not instantly wide who was liable for the attempted vessel hijack. Shipping authorization Lloyd’s List and maritime quality steadfast Dryad Global had some identified the hijacked vas arsenic Panama-flagged asphalt tanker Asphalt Princess. The vessel’s owner, listed arsenic Emirati escaped zone-based Glory International, could not instantly beryllium reached for comment.

The lawsuit unfolded amid heightened tensions betwixt Iran and the West implicit Tehran’s tattered atomic woody with satellite powers and arsenic commercialized shipping successful the portion has recovered itself caught successful the crosshairs. Most recently, the U.S., the U.K. and Israel person blamed Iran for a drone onslaught connected an lipid tanker disconnected the seashore of Oman that killed 2 people. Iran has denied involvement.

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The U.S. military’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet and the British Defense Ministry did not instrumentality calls for remark astir the reported hijack. The Emirati authorities did not instantly admit the incident.

Late connected Tuesday, arsenic the incidental was underway, six lipid tankers disconnected the seashore of Fujairah had announced astir the aforesaid clip via their Automatic Identification System trackers that they were “not nether command,” according to MarineTraffic.com. That typically means a vas has mislaid powerfulness and tin nary longer steer.

The Gulf of Oman is adjacent the Strait of Hormuz, the constrictive rima of the Persian Gulf done which a 5th of each lipid passes. Fujairah, connected the UAE’s eastbound coast, is simply a main larboard successful the portion for ships to instrumentality connected caller lipid cargo, prime up supplies oregon commercialized retired crew. For the past 2 years, the waters disconnected Fujairah person seen a bid of explosions and hijackings. The U.S. Navy blamed Iran for a bid of limpet excavation attacks connected vessels that damaged tankers.

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Apparently responding to the incident, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh described the caller maritime attacks successful the Persian Gulf arsenic “completely suspicious.” He denied that Iran was involved.

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Debre reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates

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