- Title: AT SEA: CONVOY OF REFLAGGED TANKERS SAIL THROUGH GULF WITH UNITED STATES ESCORT.
- Date: 11th October 1987
- Summary: 1. AV Convoy of reflagged tankers at sea. 0.15 2. AVs Warship, convoy and helicopter flying overhead. (4 SHOTS) 0.47 3. AVs Iranian island of Sirri and Iranian patrol ship. (2 SHOTS) 1.02 4. GV Dhow. 1.10 5. AVs Japanese ship 'Stevens'. (2 SHOTS) 1.34 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 26th October 1987 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: AT SEA, GULF
- Country: At Sea
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA1SLH8BKZALSXALIMK2ULC1P1A
- Story Text: AT SEA, GULF
A convoy of four United States (US)-flagged tankers with a US navy escort sailed through the Gulf on October 11, hours after Iraqi jets blasted an Iranian shuttle tanker and killed two crew members. More civilian casualties of the seven-year-old war were reported in Baghdad after an Iranian missile slammed into the Iraqi capital, the third to hit the city in a week. The tanker convoy was travelling west, past Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a 800 kilometre (500 mile) journey to Kuwait. Further north, two crew members were killed and four were missing after Iraqi jets blasted the Iranian shuttle tanker Rova south of Iran's Kharg Island oil terminal late on October 10. The Liberian-flag tanker was said to have been badly damaged. Soon after the shipping raid an Iranian ground-to-ground missile smashed into Baghdad. Iraq reported some civilians, including women and children, were killed or wounded. Iran said the attack was in retaliation for Iraqi raids. Shipping sources also reported that oil installations on Iran's Sirri Island in the southern Gulf were on fire at nightfall on October 10, reportedly after a long-range Iraqi air raid. Iraqi communiques made no mention of a raid on Sirri, about 560 kilometres (350 miles) southeast of Iran's main oil terminal on Kharg Island. The new US convoy Iran said on October 10 it had acquired some time ago. According to the reporters in the area, the USS Raleigh, with four injured Iranians on board, has joined the convoy. The four men were captured in a clash between US helicopters and Iranians died after the attack. The US State Department said it would arrange to repatriate the Iranians if they so wished, through the International Committee of the Red Cross. Iran says the US are holding the four Iranian survivors hostage, and has vowed to avenge the attack.
<strong>Source: REUTERS - ROB CELLIERS</strong> - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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