Safeen Prestige Reportedly Sank in the Strait of Hormuz
The UAE-managed containership Safeen Prestige is reported to have finally succumbed to the fire that engulfed the vessel after it was attacked by the Iranians. A month after the ship was first reported to have been struck, NAVEREA IX issued a maritime warning reporting the sinking of the vessel, which would make it the first ship confirmed to have sunk due to the hostilities with Iran.
The position is reported to be near the northernmost tip of Oman’s Musandam Peninsula. An exact timing for the sinking was not reported, but the alert was issued on April 1. It says the vessel went down in a position with a depth of approximately 120 meters (nearly 400 feet). They place the sinking approximately 6.5 nautical miles northeast of Ras Madrakah, Oman.
The report warns that some of the container debris may be floating in the area, and there is a report of an oil slick.
The ship was one of the early casualties of the war when it was struck by at least one Iranian missile on March 4. At the time, it was reported to have been about 2 nautical miles north of Oman when it was attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz. The first reports said there was a fire in the engine room and the crew abandoned the ship.
Built in 2013 in China, the ship was 23,425 dwt with a capacity of 1,740 TEU, including 345 reefer plugs. AD Ports Group acquired the vessel in May 2022, although according to databases, it was sold in 2024 to an Egyptian company and was operating under charter.
Abu Dhabi Ports launched its service in the Gulf as Safeen Feeders in 2020. It was linking Abu Dhabi to ports serving the UAE, the broader Gulf region, and the Indian Sub-Continent. The service was expanded in 2022 to include a route between the UAE and Red Sea with calls in Saudi Arabia and Sudan,
Videos had surfaced recently showing the vessel engulfed in a fire from end to end. A satellite picture released by the NGO United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) on March 18 showed smoke coming from a vessel that it identified as the Safeen Prestige. That raised speculation that the vessel had been struck a second time by the Iranians.
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Two days after the ship was abandoned, AD Ports sent a rescue tug on March 6 as part of a salvage effort. The tug was also hit by an Iranian projectile, killing and injuring the crew aboard the tug.
Reuters released a tally of all the reported incidents in the Persian Gulf that showed a total of 22 maritime incidents since the start of the bombing campaign on February 28. It included ships that were struck and damaged, as well as ships that reported debris from the efforts to intercept the incoming projectiles.
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