Missile Strikes Greek Tanker in Persian Gulf

A missile of undetermined origin smashed into a Greek tanker near the Kuwaiti coast, shattering a respite of the past few days in the three-year-old tanker war in the Persian Gulf, Greek shipping officials said Wednesday.

None of the 31 people on board, including one woman passenger, was hurt in the attack at about 8 p.m. Tuesday 22 miles off the coast of Kuwait, according to officials in the Ministry of Merchant Marine in Piraeus, Greece, where the ship’s owner, Nereus Shipping S.A., is based.

Neither the ministry nor the owners could identify the attackers.

The missile penetrated one of the cargo holds of the 125,947-ton tanker Ethnic loaded with Kuwaiti oil, but there were no reports of an explosion or fire on board, the officials said. The ministry could not say how big the hole was.

Flying Greek Flag

The Ethnic, flying the Greek flag and heading from Kuwait to Taiwan, turned back after the attack, ministry sources said, quoting Kuwaiti shipping authorities.

Iraq normally uses sea-skimming Exocet missiles to attack tankers in the Persian Gulf, but in the past it has usually restricted its attacks to tankers carrying Iranian oil. There was no comment on the attack from Iraqi sources.