Second Turkish Supertanker Hit by Iraqi Missile in Persian Gulf

Iraqi warplanes crippled the second Turkish supertanker in a week Friday, setting its stern section ablaze with a missile, Persian Gulf shipping sources said.

All 38 crewmen abandoned ship after the strike against the 226,145-ton M. Ceyhan, but no casualties were reported. No oil was reported lost, but tugs were still fighting the flames at dusk.

Shipping executives in Bahrain said a French-made Exocet missile hit above the M. Ceyhan’s waterline. On Tuesday, the tanker M. Vatan was also hit by a missile. Both vessels were attacked at about dawn 100 miles south of Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal, which Iraq has declared off limits to commercial shipping.

The vessels are owned by the Turkish shipping company Cerrahogullari T.A.S. of Istanbul and were leased to Iran to shuttle oil from Kharg to a makeshift export terminal at Sirri Island in safer waters more than 300 miles to the south.

Iran has been using leased supertankers to move oil to Sirri so its customers can avoid the Iraqi blockade. Iraq began attacking commercial shipping at the beginning of last year in an attempt to cut off Iran’s oil revenue and end the five-year-old war between the neighboring gulf nations.

About 20 of the M. Vatan’s 2.7-million-barrel cargo leaked into the gulf after the attack Tuesday, but its crew also escaped injury. The fire was extinguished and Iranian navy vessels took it under tow for Sirri.