Thai shipowner Precious Shipping has confirmed that three crew members from the bulk carrier Mayuree Naree are missing and believed to be trapped in the vessel’s engine room after the ship was hit in the Strait of Hormuz.

According to the company, the Thai-flagged bulker was struck by two projectiles at around 08:15 local time on 11 March while transiting the waterway. The vessel had a total crew of 23 on board.

The strikes damaged the engine room and triggered a fire.

Precious Shipping said 20 crew members were able to evacuate safely and are now ashore in Oman. The company is working with the relevant authorities both to rescue the three missing seafarers and to repatriate the evacuated crew to Thailand as soon as possible.

It also confirmed that the vessel is covered by war risk insurance.

Maritime security company Vanguard Tech said that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that the ship had ignored warnings from the IRGC Navy against attempting to transit the strait.

At the time of the incident, the Mayuree Naree was sailing in ballast. AIS data from Pole Star Global’s PurpleTRAC system indicated that the vessel had departed from offshore the UAE and was bound for Kandla, India.

Vanguard also reported that the IRGC claimed to have struck a Liberia-flagged container ship, Express Rome, after it too allegedly ignored warnings not to transit the strait. However, there has been no independent confirmation that this second attack actually took place.

The latest attack adds to growing concern over the safety of commercial shipping in one of the world’s most strategically important maritime corridors.

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