Two Filipino Seafarers Die Aboard the VLCC Sidr as the Hormuz Toll Reaches 18
Manila reiterates the right to refuse a Hormuz transit after 31 ships carrying 421 of its nationals were attacked
Two seafarers have died aboard the Saudi-owned very large crude carrier Sidr after the ship was hit while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, taking the confirmed death toll among merchant crews in the waterway to at least 18 since attacks on commercial shipping intensified this year.
UK Maritime Trade Operations received a delayed report of the 31 August incident listing two casualties, and issued an update on 2 September confirming both had died. The agency did not name the ship or the crew, and reported no environmental damage. Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said the two were Filipino nationals killed in an attack on the Sidr, and pressed for a halt to escalation and for respect for the security of global energy supplies.
Bahri, the Saudi national shipping company that owns the 300,759 dwt VLCC, said the incident occurred at about 11:40 pm local time and that it remained in contact with the vessel while coordinating with authorities. The tanker, IMO 9854715, was one of two supertankers carrying Saudi crude reported hit within minutes of each other during an outbound transit, an episode covered in the strikes on two VLCCs.
Sixteen Filipino seafarers were on board. Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said the projectiles started a fire that the crew contained, and that two of them were killed. The remains of the two and the 14 unharmed crew were landed in Oman, with repatriation being arranged through the Philippine embassy and migrant workers office there.
Cacdac put the Philippine tally at 31 ships carrying 421 Filipino seafarers attacked in the Strait since 28 February. Of those, 406 were unharmed, 10 were injured and have recovered, three have died and one remains officially missing. About 268 have already returned home.
The Department of Migrant Workers has kept the Strait on red alert as a high-risk, war-like zone, and reminded owners and manning agents that a Filipino seafarer may refuse to sail into it. Deployment is disallowed to the extent that a seafarer exercises that right, Cacdac said, and the department will review whether the conditions attached to high-risk transits were met in the case of the Sidr. Those conditions cover risk assessments, security protocols, escorts where necessary, armed guards and reporting.
The wider toll has been climbing through the year. At least 15 seafarers had been confirmed killed by mid-July, with dozens more injured. A crew member aboard the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Minoan Dignity was killed on 17 August when the ship was struck outbound, and another bulk carrier was hit two days earlier with a casualty that was not reported as fatal. In June, BIMCO, the International Chamber of Shipping, INTERCARGO and INTERTANKO said jointly that seafarers must never become collateral damage, victims or instruments of political or military pressure.
