Projectile hits the Kuwaiti tanker Kazimah III in the Gulf of Oman: five Indian nationals evacuated to Oman

Five Indian nationals have been brought safely ashore in Oman after the Kuwaiti-flagged oil tanker on which they were travelling was hit by a projectile in the Gulf of Oman, the Indian mission in Muscat announced, as Al Jazeera writes.

The vessel, the giant tanker MT Kazimah III owned by the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC), caught fire after it was hit by an unidentified projectile on Thursday. In a statement, the Indian mission thanked the Omani authorities for their help in evacuating the sailors.

The strike on Kazimah III is the second attack on a Kuwaiti vessel within a few days, after the tanker MT Khadejah III was also hit earlier, making Kuwait one of the countries most affected by the wave of maritime attacks in the region.

The attack comes at a moment when maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman remains under constant threat: in recent days several tankers have been hit, including a supertanker that caught fire in Hormuz, while marine insurers have sharply raised premiums for ships passing through Gulf waters.