The suspected hijacking of a ship in the Gulf of Oman has ended and the vessel is intact, a UK maritime security agency said on Wednesday, days after a deadly attack on a tanker in the region. A UK maritime security agency said the potential hijacking of the Panama-flagged MV Asphalt Princess has ended after men who boarded and seized the ship in the Gulf of Oman left the vessel. All those remaining on board are safe, officials said.
However, there has been no further details shred to the media, as per a BBC report. The bitumen tanker was seized on Tuesday heading into the congested approach to the Strait of Hormuz. It is not clear who seized the ship, but analysts suspected Iranian forces. The men who boarded the MV Asphalt Princess were reportedly armed and are said to have ordered it to sail to Iran.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) initially warned ships of an incident before declaring a "potential hijack" hours later. The incident occurred less than a week after an oil tanker operated by an Israeli-owned company was attacked by a drone off Oman, killing two security guards - one British and the other Romanian. The US, UK and Israel blamed Iran for the attack - a claim it strongly denies.
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