Saudi Arabia’s national shipping company Bahri said Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, that two Filipino seafarers were killed in a “security incident” involving its very large crude carrier Sidr while the tanker was transiting the Strait of Hormuz late Monday night — a confirmation that turns earlier projectile reports into named crew deaths, and that Riyadh has now pinned on Iran.

Bahri said the incident occurred at 23:40 local time Monday, Aug. 31, as Sidr crossed the strait. The company confirmed the loss of two Filipino crew members and said it remained in contact with the vessel and relevant authorities. Shipping intelligence firms had already placed Sidr among vessels struck by unknown projectiles northeast of Khasab, Oman, as it sailed outbound through Hormuz. Sidr was one of two Saudi-oil tankers reported hit in that window; the other, Senegal Prosperity, was earlier reported with no casualties.

This is distinct from Insanity Developing’s prior reporting that two Saudi-loaded tankers had been struck by projectiles near Hormuz. Wednesday’s development is the confirmed fatalities aboard Sidr and Saudi Arabia’s formal blame of Iran.

Riyadh condemns Iran, urges de-escalation

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Iran for “targeting of the Saudi tanker Sidr while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” the Saudi Press Agency reported. The kingdom urged all parties to de-escalate, cease hostilities, respect international law, and return to negotiations and peaceful resolutions — and stressed the need to respect the security and safety of international navigation.

That diplomatic language sits on top of a brutal arithmetic for crews. The International Maritime Organization has verified at least 70 ship attacks and 19 seafarer deaths as of Aug. 28, before Monday’s Sidr incident. Thousands of seafarers have been stranded in the Gulf since the wider conflict intensified. IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez has warned that thousands continue to “live and work under conditions of heightened risk and uncertainty,” and that disrupting fuels, fertilizers, and other commodities ripples into communities worldwide. In earlier statements he has also argued that no commercial justification can override seafarer safety when passage is not genuinely secure.

Traffic collapses even as oil still tries to move

Data cited by The National from analytics firm Kpler showed Hormuz crossings plunging: five vessels on Tuesday versus 25 the prior Thursday. Energy markets have swung on every rumor of corridor openings and every confirmed hit. Governments talk about freedom of navigation; seafarers absorb the risk premium in blood. States that choke a chokepoint — or answer with strikes that leave commercial hulls smoking — are not defending open trade so much as weaponizing it.

Bahri’s Wednesday statement closes the ambiguity that lingered after Monday’s projectile reports: two Filipino sailors are dead, Saudi Arabia says Iran did it, and another VLCC transit through Hormuz has become a casualty list. Until the shooting stops, every “security incident” in that narrow strait is a reminder that concentrated power on all sides treats merchant crews as acceptable collateral for a shipping war they did not start.

Sources