HMM Namoo Incident: Was It a Drone or Missile? Key Findings from the Investigation

Translation result.

The South Korean government said an unidentified aerial vehicle struck the HMM Namu in the Strait of Hormuz on May 4, igniting a fire aboard the freighter.

On May 10, the Foreign Ministry released the findings of a joint government investigation.

At a briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Park Il said investigators concluded an unidentified aerial vehicle struck the Namu’s stern on May 4. CCTV captured the object, but image quality and available footage limited investigators’ ability to identify its launch source, platform type or exact size.

The ministry said it will analyze engine wreckage recovered from the scene. Officials have not yet determined whether the weapon was a drone or a missile, or which country was responsible.

Park said investigators determined that at about 3:30 p.m. local time on May 4, two unidentified aerial vehicles struck the port-side outer hull of the Namu’s stern ballast-water tank, roughly one minute apart.

The impacts produced vibration followed by flames and smoke. The first hit ignited the blaze; the second caused it to spread rapidly. Park said investigators believe the fire did not originate inside the vessel.

The strike produced an approximately 5 m-wide breach in the outer hull that penetrated about 7 m into the ship and bent inward toward the vessel’s interior.

Park said the damaged area sat 1 to 1.5 m above the waterline. He added that the blast-pressure damage pattern and the hemispherical penetration shape make a mine or torpedo strike unlikely, lending weight to the assessment that an aerial vehicle caused the damage.

Earlier, officials had judged a strike unlikely. Park said initial checks by the crew and nearby ships failed to detect any hull breach, so authorities awaited on-site forensic results before issuing a public finding.

Just before Park began the briefing, cameras captured Saeed Koozechi, Iran’s ambassador to South Korea, entering the Foreign Ministry building. Park said the ambassador planned to meet with First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-ju.

On the ambassador’s visit, Park said Seoul is communicating with relevant countries based on confirmed facts. Because Iran is among those nations, the Iranian ambassador visited to be briefed on the investigation results.