The Asphalt Princess tanker was hijacked by a group of eight or nine people off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This was reported by Sky News with reference to one of the United Kingdom security services.
Incident, presumably, occurred at 97 kilometers from Fujaira Province. According to sources, armed people rose on board the vessel, turned off the tracking systems and agreed in an unknown direction. The representative of the British Foreign Ministry said that British special forces participates in the investigation of the incident.
Previously, four oil tankers – Queen Ematha, Golden Brilliant, Jag Pooja and Abyss – reported on the loss of control over the steering and turning off the engines. All ships refused satellite tractors. At the same time, Reuters noted that the UAE did not immediately recognize the incident, despite the testimony of tracking means of marineetraffic.com.
From August 1 to August 2, Romania, USA, the United Kingdom and Israel accused Iran in an attack on the Mercer Street tanker off the coast of Oman. As it became known, one or more drone-kamikadze attacked the deck of the vessel, as a result of which a citizen of Romania and the Great Britain were killed. On August 3, there were reports that the United Kingdom transferred elite special forces to the Middle East to find and eliminate the perpetrators of the attack.