The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations published Warning 179-26 as an ATTACK product. The working primary is the numbered PDF, 20261021-ukmto_warning_179_26.pdf. The incident date is 21 October 2026. The incident time is 0145 UTC. The source line is Local Authorities. UKMTO says it has received a report of an incident 11 nautical miles west of Bukha, Oman. Local authorities have reported that a tanker has been struck by an unknown projectile which started a fire which has been extinguished. The tanker is now at anchor. All crew are reported as safe. There is no reported environmental impact at this time. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO while authorities investigate. UKMTO printed neither a ship name, an IMO number, a flag, a cargo grade, a heading, a projectile type, an attacker, nor a coordinate pair beyond the Bukha offset.
This is a Strait of Hormuz / Musandam file. It is not Warning 180-26, the separate northern-Gulf Attack 30 nautical miles southeast of Al Faw. It is not a rewrite of Wednesday afternoon’s dedicated IMO 119-count piece, which already printed AL DASMA as a 20 October second-attack row. What is new on this desk is the numbered UKMTO Attack that Wednesday’s recent-incidents board did not yet carry, the matching MSCIO Alert 151/26, NAVAREA IX 396/26 which cancels the fire-and-drifting 393/26 and puts AL DASMA at anchor 1.3 nautical miles west of Bukha, and India’s ports minister naming M/T AL DASMA with 21 Indian seafarers safe. JMIC’s last numbered public note remains Update 106, JMIC# 001 26, information cut-off 181300 UTC 18 October, Hormuz SEVERE. Do not brief Thursday as Update 107, as a 179-26 PDF naming, as a second Hormuz incident on a second day, or as an Al Faw collapse.
What UKMTO and MSCIO actually printed
The confirmed UKMTO tape is short. ATTACK. 179-26. 21 October 2026. 0145 UTC. Source: Local Authorities. 11 nautical miles west of Bukha, Oman. Tanker. Unknown projectile. Fire started. Fire extinguished. Tanker now at anchor. All crew reported as safe. No reported environmental impact at this time. Transit with caution. Report suspicious activity to UKMTO. Authorities investigating. That is the product. UKMTO’s recent-incidents board now lists this Attack above Warning 180-26 and Advisory 178-26. Wednesday afternoon’s 180-26 piece on this desk recorded that a 179-26 number did not appear on the same listing and told operators not to invent one as a suppressed Al Dasma warning. The number is now on the board. Stay with the PDF. Do not treat the late listing as a second event, and do not treat the 20 October board grouping as a finding that the 0145 UTC clock is wrong.
MSCIO Alert 151/26, timestamped 21 October 11:26 a.m. on the MSCIO alerts page, reprints the same 01:45 UTC clock, the same 11 nautical miles west of Bukha, and places the file in the Strait of Hormuz. A tanker reportedly was struck by an unknown projectile, causing a fire onboard, which has since been extinguished. The vessel is currently at anchor. All crew are reported safe. No environmental impact has been reported. Vessels are advised to maintain heightened vigilance, adhere to BMP-MS, and report immediately any suspicious activity to MSCIO and UKMTO. MSCIO, like UKMTO, does not print a hull name on that alert. The two numbered products are the unnamed Attack tape. Naming sits on other instruments.
Al Arabiya’s English desk at 12:17 GST on 21 October, updated 12:42 GST, reprinted UKMTO: unknown projectile, 11 nautical miles west of Oman’s Bukha overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, fire extinguished, tanker at anchor, all crew reported safe. That wire does not name the hull. It does not name a cargo. It does not print an attacker. Do not import a named service, a precision munition, or a completed class survey from colour that the numbered products do not carry.
NAVAREA 396/26 revises the fire-and-drifting caution
NAVAREA IX 393/26, issued 210145 UTC on 21 October, was the first coastal-warning primary. The message is labelled Strait of Hormuz, charts BA 2888, 3174 and Oman OM1219. It prints oil tanker (AL DASMA) reported involved in a security incident causing fire and drifting in 26-09.02N 055-56.1E, approximately 11 nautical miles west of Bukha. Mariners cautioned. That is the fire-and-drifting geometry Wednesday’s IMO 119-count piece held as wrap. It is also the same 210145 UTC clock as Warning 179-26.
NAVAREA IX 396/26, issued 211500 UTC on 21 October, is the working revision. The official Pakistan NAVAREA text reads: Strait of Hormuz; charts BA 2888, 3172, 3174, Oman OM1219; oil tanker (AL DASMA) earlier involved in a security incident on 20 October 2026 anchored in 26-14.0N 056-04.6E, approximately 1.3 nautical miles west of Bukha; mariners cautioned; cancel NAVAREA IX 393/26. The fire-and-drifting position is cancelled. The live caution is an anchored tanker about ten nautical miles east of the first coordinate, close in to Bukha. 396/26 does not reprint fire, extinguished, crew, pollution, or a projectile. Hold UKMTO’s extinguished-and-at-anchor line beside the NAVAREA’s anchored-and-cancel-393 line. Do not brief a second fire because 393/26 is still visible on some in-force lists until a later snapshot drops it, and do not brief a wreck because the coastal warning moved the ship to anchor rather than to the seabed.
The clocks have to sit together, not as two incidents. The IMO highlighted-incidents board as at 21 October dated AL DASMA, IMO 9653446, 20 October, Strait of Hormuz, second attack, damaged, no pollution. NAVAREA 396/26 uses 20 October as the incident date and 21 October 1500 UTC as the issue time. UKMTO and MSCIO use 21 October 0145 UTC. Sonowal’s ministry note uses 21 October. That is one hull and one security incident, with a coastal-warning issue time that matches the UKMTO Attack clock and an IMO / NAVAREA incident date a few hours earlier. Do not invent a 20 October strike and a 21 October strike on the same tanker.
India names the hull and 21 Indian seafarers
Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal posted on 21 October that Kuwait-flagged oil product tanker M/T AL DASMA, carrying 21 Indian seafarers, was struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. All 21 Indian crew members, along with the rest of the crew, are completely safe. The ministry said it is continuously monitoring the situation and remains in close contact with the ship management company. Indian Express, IANS and other English desks carried that post into 22 October morning editions. The ministry line is the first Indian government naming of this second-attack hull and the first printed Indian headcount. It is not a UKMTO PDF naming. Warning 179-26 still does not print AL DASMA.
Hold the ministry geometry as Strait of Hormuz transit. Hold UKMTO / MSCIO / NAVAREA 393 as 11 nautical miles west of Bukha. Hold NAVAREA 396 as 1.3 nautical miles west of Bukha at anchor. Those are not contradictions that create two files. They are a transit, a first caution, and a later anchorage. Sonowal does not print fire, damage volume, cargo grade, or pollution. Indian Express noted there is no official word yet on damage to the vessel or its cargo. Stay with IMO’s damaged / no pollution row and UKMTO’s no reported environmental impact. Do not invent a cargo spill or a completed repair.
Open-register colour remains colour, not a new class circular: Wednesday’s 119-count piece already held IMO 9653446, Kuwait, KOTC, about 249.9 metres, 109,719 dwt, call sign 9KFM, Aframax-size, not a VLCC. Sonowal’s product-tanker wording sits beside NAVAREA’s oil-tanker wording. Do not force a crude-versus-products finding the numbered products do not make. The 7 September first-attack row on the same IMO number remains that row. Sisters AL FUNTAS and KAZIMAH III remain on their dedicated first-attack files.
Operational implications
For a CSO with tonnage still using the Strait, the Musandam inshore, or the Bukha / Khasab / Fujairah holding ground, Thursday morning is a numbered Attack plus a cancelled fire-and-drifting NAVAREA, not a Hormuz reopen and not a new IMO-board increment. Update 106 remains the last numbered JMIC note. Hormuz remains SEVERE. The IMO 119-count as at 21 October already has this hull as a second-attack row. Plan the next inbound or outbound Hormuz run on Update 106 plus Warning 179-26 plus NAVAREA 396/26 plus Wednesday’s 119-count piece, not on a headline that the Strait has a new unnamed tanker or that Al Dasma has been struck twice since the 119-count.
Anchorages inside 2 nautical miles of Bukha are now a named-hull caution, not a waiting-orders shelter. 396/26 puts AL DASMA at 26-14.0N 056-04.6E. That is inshore of the first 11-nautical-mile fire position and inside the same TSS approaches that Update 106 already treated as SEVERE. A ship that stops west of Bukha to wait for a convoy slot, a fog bank, or a company decision is stopping inside the live NAVAREA circle. Channel 16, the UKMTO emergency line and the company duty officer still have to be on the night orders while the ship is stopped. UKMTO’s “now at anchor” line is a status, not a finding that the projectile envelope has closed.
Keep the dedicated files on their own lines. Wednesday’s IMO 119-count remains the board-move piece that first printed Al Dasma, Loyalty and Jif Barracuda on the IMO sheet. 180-26 remains the unnamed Al Faw Attack. 178-26 remains the Duqm Advisory. 177-26 / Jif Barracuda remains the Khor Fakkan tug. 175-26 / Loyalty remains the 78 nautical mile Jubayl RPG. 174-26 / ST3 remains the 68 nautical mile Jubayl file, with Friday’s India-ministry 15-safe note still that dedicated piece. 176-26 remains the unnamed Mukalla LNG. Do not move Al Dasma onto 180-26 because both files are 20–21 October tanker Attacks, and do not move Sonowal’s 21-safe count onto ST3’s 15-safe count.
Do not recast 21 October 0145 UTC as an Al Faw increment, as a 179-26 PDF naming, as Update 107, as an IMO-board move past 119, as a fatality, as a confirmed wreck, or as a second distinct strike on 21 October. The confirmed facts are Warning 179-26, 21 October, 0145 UTC, Local Authorities, tanker, unknown projectile, fire extinguished, at anchor, 11 nautical miles west of Bukha, crew safe, no reported environmental impact, no hull name on the PDF; MSCIO Alert 151/26 on the same clock; NAVAREA IX 396/26 cancelling 393/26 and anchoring AL DASMA at 26-14.0N 056-04.6E, 1.3 nautical miles west of Bukha; Sonowal naming M/T AL DASMA and 21 Indian seafarers safe; JMIC still Update 106; IMO board still 119 as at 21 October.
What Operators Should Note
- Log a numbered UKMTO Attack west of Bukha, not an Al Faw file and not a 179-26 PDF naming. Warning 179-26. 21 October 2026. 0145 UTC. Source: Local Authorities. Tanker struck by an unknown projectile approximately 11 nautical miles west of Bukha, Oman. Fire started and has been extinguished. Tanker now at anchor. All crew reported as safe. No reported environmental impact at this time. UKMTO printed neither hull, IMO, flag, cargo, projectile type nor attacker. MSCIO Alert 151/26 reprints the same clock in the Strait of Hormuz, still unnamed.
- Replace NAVAREA IX 393/26 with 396/26 in the master’s pack. 393/26, 210145 UTC 21 October, fire and drifting at 26-09.02N 055-56.1E, about 11 nautical miles west of Bukha, is cancelled. 396/26, 211500 UTC 21 October, oil tanker (AL DASMA) earlier involved on 20 October, anchored at 26-14.0N 056-04.6E, approximately 1.3 nautical miles west of Bukha, mariners cautioned. Charts BA 2888, 3172, 3174 and OM1219. The live caution is an anchored named tanker close in to Bukha, not a drifting fire 11 miles offshore.
- Hold the clocks as one hull, not two strikes. IMO 119-count: AL DASMA, IMO 9653446, 20 October, Strait of Hormuz, second attack, damaged, no pollution. NAVAREA 396/26 incident date 20 October. UKMTO / MSCIO 21 October 0145 UTC. Sonowal 21 October. That is one security incident with a coastal-warning issue time that matches the Attack product. Do not brief a 20 October hit and a 21 October hit on the same tanker.
- Treat Sonowal as a ministry naming and a 21-safe Indian headcount, not as a UKMTO naming. Kuwait-flagged oil product tanker M/T AL DASMA. 21 Indian seafarers, all safe, plus the rest of the crew. Close contact with the ship management company. The ministry does not print fire, damage volume, cargo or pollution. Indian Express: no official word yet on damage to the vessel or its cargo. Stay with IMO damaged / no pollution and UKMTO no reported environmental impact.
- Do not merge 179-26 onto 180-26, New Andros, or Wednesday’s 119-count rewrite. 180-26 remains the unnamed tanker Attack 30 nautical miles southeast of Al Faw. New Andros remains the dedicated 9 September named Al Faw row. Wednesday’s IMO piece remains the board-move that first printed Al Dasma, Loyalty and Jif Barracuda. This file is the numbered UKMTO Attack plus the NAVAREA anchorage revision plus the Indian headcount.
- Keep Update 106 and the 119-count, and put Bukha inshore on the night orders. Hormuz remains SEVERE on the 18 October JMIC note. The IMO board as at 21 October is still 119 confirmed / 24 dead. 179-26 sits after the JMIC cut-off. Stopping 1.3 nautical miles west of Bukha is stopping inside the live NAVAREA circle. Transit with caution. Report to UKMTO and MSCIO. Watch a PDF revision that names the hull, a flag or KOTC damage note, a JMIC Update 107, or an IMO-board move — not an Al Faw collapse or a second-strike invention.
Regulas Shipping will keep lining Warning 179-26 against NAVAREA IX 396/26 and against Wednesday’s IMO 119-count so operators can treat the Bukha tape as a numbered unnamed Attack whose coastal warning now names AL DASMA at anchor, not as a Hormuz reopen or a second distinct strike.
