Fire on tanker off the coast of Oman - one victim

Two people are missing and there is also a "casualty", the authority said. It was unclear whether this was a fatality or an injury.

According to the financial service Bloomberg, the ship involved was the oil tanker "Settebello", which flies the flag of the Pacific island state of Palau. Bloomberg reported that the tanker regularly transported Iranian oil.

Possible attack by the US military

The cause of the fire was initially unclear. If the tanker was indeed carrying Iranian oil, it could have been an attack by the US military as part of the announced blockade of Iranian ports. There was initially no official confirmation of this.

Just a few days earlier, the US military said it had attacked a tanker in the Gulf of Oman that was heading for an Iranian port. The unladen oil tanker had violated the US blockade of Iranian ports, according to the responsible US regional command.

The US has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports in response to Iran's de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. According to the US, seven ships have been rendered unmaneuverable since mid-April.