Oil Tanker Sailed Away From War With Unexploded Missile on Board

The Indian Navy said it recovered an unexploded missile warhead from an oil supertanker that came under attack in the Gulf of Oman last month, a reminder of just how dangerous shipping has become in and around the Persian Gulf during the Iran war.

The warhead was pulled out of the Olympic Life tanker — a very large crude carrier capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil — near Kochi as part of a complex recovery operation, the India’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement . It said the missile had broken through the ship’s hull, crossed multiple structural compartments and become lodged inside a fuel tank.

The vessel reported an explosion off the coast of Oman on May 26, Naval forces said at the time. It continued to its next destination and the crew was safe. The voyage and subsequent removal of a missile are a reminder of the dangers to ships and mariners sailing in the Middle East that risk coming under attack from Iran. More recently, the US has also taken action against vessels trying to run its own blockade.

The Indian ministry said the navy first had to isolate the warhead’s detonation system before safely getting it out of the ship, along with associated debris.