Shipping company says crew of vessel seized by Iran is safe
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The operator of a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel boarded by Iranian forces as it was traversing the Strait of Hormuz said Wednesday it has confirmed the crew is safe but that the company is still trying to determine why the ship was seized the previous day by the Islamic Republic.
The MV Maersk Tigris was taken Wednesday to Bandar Abbas, the main port for Iran's navy, under escort by Iranian patrol boats, according to Maersk Line, the Danish shipping company that had chartered it. The incident comes at a critical time in Iran's relations with the United States and the West amid talks about its contested nuclear program.
Cor Radings, a spokesman for the ship's operator, Rickmers Ship Management in Singapore, which is part of a Hamburg-based shipping group, said the company had been in touch by phone with the crew earlier in the day.
"We have had the confirmation that they are in relatively good condition and safe on board the ship," he said.
