Tanker Set Afire by Iraqi Missile in Persian Gulf
An Iraqi warplane fired a missile Tuesday into an oil-laden Turkish supertanker, setting it afire near Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf. Lloyd’s of London said it was the largest ship ever hit in the nearly five-year-old war with Iran.
“We are on fire--attack from unknown aircraft,” said a distress call from the 392,799-ton M. Vatan, which had just taken on a load of Iranian oil. No casualties were reported, but oil spilled into the gulf.
The official Iraqi news agency said that Iraqi warplanes, attacking at dawn, hit a “large naval target” near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal in the gulf. In the past, Iraq has used that expression to refer to oil tankers, but it gave no other details on Tuesday’s hit.
Iran’s official news agency later said that all crew members on the supertanker were rescued and that the fire was extinguished.
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