By Hyunjoo Jin and Heejin Kim
SEOUL, May 4 (Reuters) – There was a fire and an explosion on a vessel operated by South Korean shipper HMM in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, the foreign ministry in Seoul said.
The government was checking intelligence that the vessel, HMM Namu, may have been attacked, Yonhap News reported citing government officials.
There were no casualties reported and authorities were investigating what caused the blaze that, HMM said, broke out in the engine room of the Panama-flagged cargo ship.
Twenty-four crew members, including six Korean nationals, were on board, the company told Reuters.
The U.S. military said two U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers had entered the Gulf to break an Iranian blockade and that two U.S. merchant ships had transited the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran said it had prevented a U.S. warship entering the Gulf.
“Our government will communicate closely with relevant countries regarding this matter and take necessary measures to ensure the safety of our vessels and crew members inside the Strait of Hormuz,” South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Seoul has said 26 South Korean-flagged vessels were stranded there.
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin, Heejin Kim and Jack Kim; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Aidan Lewis)
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