A video from the media department of the Iraqi ports shows a burning tanker with clouds of smoke rising into the night sky. More than thirty other sailors have been rescued so far. The search for missing people is continuing, the head of the Iraqi port authority told state television on Thursday.

Attack with explosives boats

As Reuters reported on Wednesday Iranian boatswhich were loaded with explosives, attacked the two tankers. The ships caught fire. The ships are the Marshall Islands-flagged Safesea Vishnu and the Maltese-flagged Zefyros. They had loaded fuel in Iraq, two Iraqi port officials said. According to the port and maritime security company, three more ships have already been fired waters of the Gulf have met.

Video footage verified

Reuters confirmed that one of the ships seen in the videos is the tanker Zefyros, as its shape and features match archival images of the ship. The exact time the videos were taken could not be verified, but no older version of the footage posted online before March 12 has been found. According to ship tracking data, the tankers Zefyros and Safesea Vishnu were in Iraqi territorial waters on March 12, 2026.