At least four ships off the coast of the United Arab Emirates issued warnings on Tuesday that they had lost control of their steering under mysterious circumstances.
Oil tankers Queen Ematha, Golden Brilliant, Jag Pooja and Abyss announced around the same time via their AIS trackers that they were "not under command, meaning that the vessels lost power and can no longer steer, according to MarineTraffic.
[caption id="attachment_259041" align="aligncenter" width="796"]
Bulk Carrier Golden Brilliant[/caption]
According to FlightRadar24, the British Army's UK Naval Commercial Operations pision warned ships that "there is an incident currently underway", without elaborating. A Royal Air Force of Oman Airbus, which is also a maritime patrol aircraft, was flying over the area where the ships lost control.
The incident comes just days after a drone bombed an oil tanker linked to an Israeli billionaire off the coast of Oman, killing two crew members. The West blamed Iran for the attack, which was the first known attack that killed civilians in the years, commercial ships in the region.
[caption id="attachment_259042" align="aligncenter" width="768"]
Oil tanker Queen Ematha[/caption]
Iran has denied any role in the incident, although Tehran and allied militias have used similar "suicide" drones in previous attacks.
https://twitter.com/UK_MTO/status/1422553495996092427?s=20
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