Ships collide off UAE amid swirl of electronic interference
DUBAI—A vessel collided with two other ships sailing near the Strait of Hormuz (SoH) on Tuesday, amid reports of a surge of electronic interference affecting the navigational systems of commercial ships in the Gulf.
Two of the ships, both oil tankers, were reportedly on fire.
The United Arab Emirates coast guard said it had evacuated 24 people from one of the ships, Adalynn, to Khor Fakkan port after the crash 24 nautical miles off its eastern coast.
Personnel on the second tanker, the Front Eagle, were reported safe with no pollution seen after a fire on its deck, according to its owner, the Oslo-listed company Frontline.
The Front Eagle was loaded with 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude oil and was en route to Zhoushan in China, according to monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.
Right turn
The Adalynn, owned by India-based Global Shipping Holding Ltd, had no cargo and was sailing towards the Suez Canal in Egypt, the monitoring service said.
TankerTrackers.com said on X that the Front Eagle was moving southbound at a speed of 13.1 knots when it “executed a starboard (right) turn, resulting in a collision with the port quarter (aft port side)” of the Adalynn, which was proceeding southeast at 4.8 knots.
British maritime security firm Ambrey reported that the incident took place 22 nautical miles east of Khor Fakkan off the UAE, adding that it was not security-related.
The incident unfolded as arch foes Iran and Israel exchanged attacks for a fifth day following Israel’s widescale strikes on Friday aimed at preventing Tehran from building an atomic weapon.
Surge in disturbance
Naval sources have told Reuters that electronic interference with commercial ship navigation systems has surged in recent days around the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Gulf, which is having an impact on vessels sailing through the region.
The Strait of Hormuz lies between Oman and Iran and links the Gulf north of it with the Gulf of Oman to the south and the Arabian Sea beyond.
Tehran has in the past threatened to close the critical Strait of Hormuz to traffic in retaliation for Western pressure.
The Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) “continue[s] to receive reports of electronic interference stemming from the vicinity of Port of Bandar Abbas (in Iran), in the SoH and several other areas in the Arabian Gulf,” the US-led JMIC said in an advisory.
