Iranian state media reported Wednesday the largest warship in the country’s navy caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Oman.
The reports said the support ship Kharg went down near the port of Jask, located at the narrow doorway to the Persian Gulf, a region with vast petroleum reserves.
“All efforts to save the vessel were unsuccessful and it sank,” the Fars news agency reported.
All of the crew members on board were safely evacuated, according to the reports.
There was no word on how the fire started.
The reports said the fire started around 2:25 a.m. local time while on a training mission.
The Kharg was one of Iran’s few ships capable of replenishing other ships while at sea.
There have been allegations of attacks on ships owned by adversaries Iran and Israel in the region.
Iran said in April that one of its ships was attacked in the Red Sea following media reports it had been targeted with limpet mines. Iran and Israel have accused each other of carrying out several reported attacks on cargo ships since February.
Last year, an Iranian naval vessel mistakenly hit another with a missile during a training exercise near Jask, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15 others.
Two crew members died in 2018 when an Iranian navy destroyer hit a breakwater and sank in the Caspian Sea.
