Looters fish iPhones and perfume from sunken GFS Pride in Strait of Hormuz Iranians scrambled to recover floating cargo including iPhones and perfume after the Singapore-flagged GFS Pride hit a mine and sank in the Strait of Hormuz on October 13. Hundreds of Iranian fishermen and local men scrambled to recover floating cargo, reportedly including iPhones and French perfume, after the Singapore-flagged container ship GFS Pride was blown up by a mine and sank in the Strait of Hormuz on October 13. More than 2,500 containers were aboard the vessel when it went down in the vital waterway, leaving thousands of items drifting on the surface. All 21 crew members were evacuated uninjured after a blaze erupted on board and the ship sank. According to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the vessel had sailed through an unauthorized and dangerous part of the strait when it struck a mine.Looters target floating cargo in HormuzFootage from the incident shows hundreds of men scrambling for goods amid the floating containers. In one clip, a man is heard saying that he and others were gathering and heading toward the Strait of Hormuz after hearing a container ship had sunk, with the aim of collecting iPhones and perfume.Several large cargo containers are seen in the water surrounded by thousands of items of cargo. Reports indicated the containers on board GFS Pride had been carrying iPhones and perfume, prompting the rush by local fishermen to recover the drifting goods.Singapore confirms GFS Pride was struckThe Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said the vessel was struck by unknown projectiles while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. GFS Pride's sister ship, GFS Giselle, was also hit the following day on October 14. It sustained hull damage and reached a safe anchorage under its own propulsion.The sinking of GFS Pride came after the US Navy reportedly engaged in a risky, top-secret four-month mission to clear mines from the bottom of the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian forces have set mines across the crucial waterway, through which one-fifth of the world's oil supply traverses, ever since the US and Israel attacked the country in February.Mine-clearing mission and oil supply risksAs of June, an estimated 80 mines had been placed in the strait, according to the International Maritime Organization. Last month, President Donald Trump announced that all mines in the strait's international waters had been removed or detonated as he declared the narrow waterway an American territory.However, Navy SEAL divers worked under the cover of darkness for four months in an effort to clear the mines, the Financial Times reported in September. They worked in small teams at night using inflatable-hulled crafts and located the mines on the bottom of the strait with the help of robot boats and submersibles operating towed sonar arrays.The Strait of Hormuz remains a strategic choke point for global energy shipments, and the loss of a fully loaded container vessel there underlines the persistent security risks facing commercial shipping in the region.