"U.S. Navy personnel rescued five mariners Dec. 15 after a fire caused an explosion aboard their vessel which was smuggling illicit drugs while transiting the Gulf of Oman," the US Fifth Fleet posted on Twitter.
US Navy patrol craft USS Sirocco, which was conducting a counter-narcotics patrol, observed the sinking vessel and responded with assistance saving five injured men. Two of them were immediately transported to Oman by helicopter for treatment while three other men were delivered to the country later that day.
The fleet said that it suspected the vessel of transporting narcotics before the fire and after seized 1,745 kilograms of hashish, 500 kilograms of methamphetamine and 30 kilograms of heroin worth $14.7 million.