Crew abandons a stricken ship as a mariner goes missing

The UK Maritime Trade Operations center said the crew of a container ship damaged near the Strait of Hormuz abandoned the vessel early Sunday and took to a lifeboat after a fire broke out and the stern was hit east of Oman. CENTCOM said a civilian crew member from the M/V GFS Galaxy, the Cyprus-flagged ship Iran attacked, is missing and the vessel cannot continue because of engine-room damage.

Why this matters. The war now has a civilian maritime casualty and an abandoned ship in the strait, hardening the U.S. rationale for strikes and pushing insurers and owners further from resuming normal Hormuz transits.