Shafaq News- Basra

Firefighters on Thursday extinguished a blaze aboard two tankers attacked inside Iraq’s territorial waters near Basra, as rescue teams continued searching for missing crew members after the incident left one person dead and others injured, security sources told Shafaq News.

Specialized firefighting tugboats from the General Company for Ports of Iraq (GCPI) were dispatched from Basra Oil Port and brought the flames under control on both vessels, which were operating about 30 miles off the Iraqi coast. Farhan al-Fartousi, Director General of the GCPI, told Iraqiya News that rescue teams recovered 38 people from the site.

According to our security sources, initial investigations indicate the attack may have involved an explosive-laden boat, which triggered fires on the vessels. Authorities are attempting to trace the boat’s route and determine its launch point, which has not yet been established and could have originated from Iraqi waters, Iranian waters, or another nearby location.

Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) expressed regret over the incident, warning that the attack poses a direct threat to maritime safety and the country’s oil operations. In a statement, the company explained that the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker SAFESEA VISHNU, chartered by a company contracted with SOMO, came under attack while operating in a side-loading area within Iraqi territorial waters. The second vessel, ZEFYROS, flying the Maltese flag and carrying condensate cargo belonging to Basra Gas Company, was also targeted in the same zone.

SOMO added that ZEFYROS had been preparing to enter Khor al-Zubair Port on Thursday to load an additional 30,000-ton shipment of naphtha after completing a previous side-loading operation.

Following the incident, oil port operations were halted, al-Fartousi noted, while commercial ports remain operational, with cargo loading and unloading continuing at the northern and southern terminals of Umm Qasr.

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