Twenty-two crew members have been rescued from a 51-year-old LPG tanker that caught fire off Iran’s Gulf coast, according to state media.

The fire started in the engine room of the 11,832-dwt White Purl (built 1972) at the anchorage of Assaluyeh while carrying an LPG cargo, according to a port official.

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Its location was confirmed by TankerTrackers, which said the Panama-flagged vessel’s AIS signal had been spoofed.

Iranian state television said all 22 members of the crew were rescued by local authorities after the master raised the alarm, according to Reuters.

The vessel is owned by a single ship company and managed by UAE-based Marine Shipping Line, according to Equasis. Nobody was available for immediate comment at the company’s offices.

The veteran vessel was last detained in 2016 by Iran for three days because of deficiencies identified by port state control, according to the database.

The Panama Ship Registry (PSR) said in June that it was reviewing more than 8,500 vessels on its books to ensure they “maintain the compliance expected by the industry”.

It added: “The vessels of advanced age and whose operating companies do not maintain best practices represent a potential risk, as they may suffer accidents and detentions …causing damage to the rest of the fleet, as well as to the prestige of the Panamanian flag.”

Port state control covering nearly 50 countries said last week they would carry out three months of concentrated inspections to check how ready crews are to tackle fires on ships.

The checks by members of the Paris and Tokyo port state control regimes were in part because of the “relatively large number of fires on board seagoing ships” and the large number of deficiencies identified during inspections. Iran is part of the Indian Ocean grouping of port state control authorities.

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