Soldiers missing in Persian Gulf identified

Associated Press

MANAMA, Bahrain — The U.S. Navy was searching Sunday for two U.S. sailors missing in the Persian Gulf after boarding a rickety tanker, deemed to be smuggling Iraqi oil, that sank.

The missing Americans were identified as Petty Officer 1st Class Vincent Parker, 38, of Preston, Miss., and Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin Johnson, 21, of Rochester, N.Y., a Pentagon official said on condition of anonymity.

Six other American sailors were rescued after the United Arab Emirates-flagged tanker sank early Sunday morning in the northern Persian Gulf, said Lt. Melissa Schuermann, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain.

The entire 14-person crew of the tanker, Samra, was believed to be Iraqi, she said. The body of one crew member was recovered, and three others were missing, Schuermann said.

The U.S. Navy said the tanker was carrying an estimated 1,900 tons of Iraqi oil in violation of U.N. sanctions against Iraq.

Schuermann, who described the ship as being in "overall poor condition" and "grossly overweighted," said it was too early to speculate on the reason for the sinking.

It was not clear whether the sunken Samra was leaking oil. The Navy said it was still focusing on search and rescue.

The U.S. sailors had boarded the tanker from the USS Peterson, a destroyer whose home port is Norfolk, Va.

The search was being conducted with the help of helicopters from the Peterson as well as the USS Ingram, USS Leyte Gulf and an Australian frigate, the HMAS Sydney, Schuermann said.

In Washington, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz indicated that the sinking was accidental. He said the tanker had been intercepted as part of a long-running U.S.-led international maritime operation designed to enforce the U.N. oil embargo against Iraq.

U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which led to the Gulf War, prohibit Iraq from exporting oil without U.N. authorization. This year, the U.S.-led Maritime Interception Force has boarded numerous ships and diverted 99 vessels while enforcing sanctions.