“Twenty-two of the ship’s crew have been rescued by Iranian rescue teams after the ship’s captain requested assistance from the port authorities,” state TV quoted a local ports official as saying.

The official said that the tanker, carrying 40,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas, had experienced “a problem in the engine room due to a fire.”

Panama’s vessel registry, the world’s largest, has withdrawn its flag from 136 ships linked to Iran’s state oil company in the last four years, the country’s maritime authority said in January.