Saudi shipping firm says 2 crew members killed in security incident on vessel passing through Strait of Hormuz

Saudi Arabia's state-owned shipping company Bahri said Wednesday (local time) that a security incident aboard a vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz had left two crew members dead.

According to a statement issued by Bahri, its vessel SIDR was involved in a security incident at around 11:40 p.m. Monday, and two Filipino crew members were killed in the course of the incident.

Bahri said it "remains in contact" with the vessel but offered no details on the cause or circumstances of the incident.

Earlier, the Financial Times and other foreign media reported that two tankers had come under attack: the Senegal Prosperity, owned by South Korean shipping company Janggeum Sangson — known internationally as Sinokor — and the Saudi state-owned oil tanker SIDR.

According to global shipping data firm Kpler, both vessels had each loaded 2 million barrels of crude oil at Saudi Arabia's Ju'aymah port in the days before the attacks.

Foreign media reported that the SIDR was struck by multiple projectiles of unidentified origin. Minutes later, the Senegal Prosperity was also hit by three rockets near the coast of Oman.

Both vessels were traveling along a route established by the United States to ease Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

The incident occurred as the United States resumed strikes against Iran in the Strait of Hormuz within a month, with the two sides continuing their armed conflict. The US struck two Iranian rocket-launch sites Sunday, then carried out another military attack against Iran on Tuesday — just two days later — and Iran immediately launched retaliatory strikes.

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has dropped sharply since the outbreak of war with Iran. Kpler data shows that an average of 99 vessels passed through the strait daily in the 10 days before the war began, compared with just nine that day.