The biggest ship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, semi-official news agencies reported.
The Fars and Tasnim news agencies said efforts failed to save the support ship Kharg, but the entire crew was able to safely disembark.
The blaze began around 2:25 a.m. and firefighters tried to contain it, Fars said. The vessel sank near the Iranian port of Jask, some 1,270 kilometers (790 miles) southeast of Tehran on the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz.
Photos circulated on Iranian social media of sailors wearing life jackets evacuating the vessel as a fire burned behind them. State TV and semi official news agencies referred to the Kharg as a “training ship.”
Fars published a video of thick, black smoke rising from the ship early Wednesday morning. Iranian officials offered no cause for the fire aboard the Kharg.
The incident comes after a series of mysterious explosions that began in 2019 targeting ships in the Gulf of Oman.
