The crew of the Safeen Prestige was forced to abandon ship (Picture: AP)

A Maltese-flagged container ship has been struck by a projectile while travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.

The crew of Safeen Prestige was forced to abandon ship,shipping sources said,after being hit about two nautical miles north of Oman.

British maritime risk management ​company Vanguard ​said: ‘The vessel ​was struck by ‌an unknown projectile just above the waterline,resulting in a fire in the engine room.

‘No environmental impact has been reported at ‌this time.’

The UK Maritime Trade Operations told Metro the ship is not British.

About a fifth of the world’s oil is transited through the shipping lane,which splits Iran on one side and Oman and the UAE on the other,and links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean.

The ship had been sailing through the Strait of Hormuz (Picture: Gallo Images)

Concerns have been raised about just disruptions to the flow of Gulf oil shipments to Europe,the US and Asia after Iran said it was ‘closing’ the shipping lane.

Tankers collecting from various ports on the Persian Gulf must go through Hormuz,a 60-mile-wide part of the Persian Gulf which has been at the heart of regional tensions for decades.

Although most chokepoints can be bypassed by using other routes,which often add significantly to transit time,some have no alternatives.

Maritime ship experts say shipowners are increasingly wary of using the waterway,with some ships having tightened security and others cancelling routes there.

An Iranian naval frigate sank off the coast of Sri Lanka. Authorities there rescued 32 people,though others died,Sri Lankan officials said.

It was not immediately clear what happened to the ship,which Sri Lankan authorities identified as the Iris Dena,and is armed with heavy guns,surface-to-air missiles,anti-ship missiles,torpedoes and can carry a helicopter.

The US military said earlier it had already destroyed 17 Iranian vessels and that its goal was to sink ‘the entire navy’.

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