Thai cargo ship attacked near Strait of Hormuz

The Thai navy announced on Wednesday that its cargo ship was attacked near the Strait of Hormuz.

The Thai navy said in a statement today: "The Thai-flagged cargo ship Mauri Nari was hit by ... of an attack while crossing the Strait of Hormuz, and the specific details and the cause of the attack are currently being investigated."

The statement explained that the ship was carrying 23 sailors and the Omani Navy rescued 20 of them while efforts are continuing to rescue the remaining three crew members.

Images released by the Royal Thai Navy showed black smoke rising from the ship as lifeboats surrounded it.

Earlier today, the UK's Maritime Trade Operations Authority announced that three ships had been hit by unidentified shells off the UAE and in the Strait of Hormuz, and it was not immediately clear whether the Thai ship's incident related to one of the three vessels.

These incidents come in the context of an unprecedented military and naval escalation in the Gulf region, since the outbreak of the US-Israel war on February 28, which was followed by Iranian drone and ballistic missile attacks that targeted commercial and military ships in the Gulf and the Arabian Sea.