A distress signal on Nov 1 alerted maritime authorities to an emergency involving a merchant ship in the Persian Gulf. The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it received reports that a vessel was struck by an unidentified projectile at 15:09 UTC, which prompted the agency to issue security alerts 190-26 and 191-26. While one shipping monitoring service stated the incident resulted in casualties on board and attributed the attack to Iran, UKMTO has not officially identified the attacker or the status of the crew.
The strike was reported to the agency after the master of a separate merchant vessel relayed a Mayday call transmitted via VHF Channel 16. UKMTO has since advised all other ships transiting the area to exercise caution and report suspicious activity to authorities while an investigation into the incident continues.