A Panama-flagged oil tanker, the New Andros, catches fire after being struck by a drone in Iraqi territorial waters on Wednesday morning, port officials say. The vessel carries about 2 million barrels of Iraqi fuel oil and is damaged around 6 a.m. local time. Iraqi officials report no casualties among the 22 crew members.
The incident comes amid wider disruption in the Gulf. UKMTO, a British navy-affiliated maritime reporting agency, says several merchant vessels in the region are hit by disabling fire overnight and that it is unable to confirm casualties or any environmental impact. It also reports a separate Wednesday incident near Port Rashid in the UAE, where a ship anchored offshore is sighted listing, possibly after an attack by an unknown projectile.
Across outlets, the core focus is the tanker fire and the reported sequence of attacks in Gulf waters during ongoing regional military activity. Coverage differs mainly in how broadly incidents are described and in added references to the scope of reporting from UKMTO, including additional vessel sightings beyond the Iraqi waters case.
