MUSCAT, Oman — Oman on Tuesday said it was searching for two missing crew members who were aboard a tanker targeted in the Strait of Hormuz that was now being towed.

 

Vessels in the vital strait have come under repeated attack as Tehran seeks to maintain a stranglehold on the waterway in its war with the United States. Washington has also kept up a counterblockade of Iranian ports.

 

The Omani Maritime Security Centre said it was overseeing a towing operation for the Panama-flagged oil tanker ELGAIA to a port in Oman after a fire was extinguished in its engine room following an attack northeast of Musandam.

 

The centre, which is affiliated with Oman's ministry of defence, added in a statement on X that "a Royal Navy of Oman vessel evacuated 23 crew members from the tanker and provided them with the necessary medical care".

 

A search continues for two crew members who remain missing, it added.

 

Oman did not say when the ship was attacked.

 

However, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations [UKMTO], a marine monitor, said a vessel had been on fire on Saturday after it was struck by an "unknown projectile" in the Strait of Hormuz.

 

British maritime security firm Vanguard Tech also reported that a Panama-flagged tanker had been struck that day and that the Omani navy was evacuating the crew.