The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on Tuesday it received a report of an incident involving a container ship and military forces in the Gulf of Oman, after changing the vessel type from tanker to container ship.

Maritime security sources said the container ship is believed to have been hit by a missile off the coast of Pakistan.

According to initial assessments, the Panama-flagged container ship Vela Nova was believed to have been hit by a missile when sailing through the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday, some 71 nautical miles off Pakistan's coast, British maritime risk management group Vanguard and a maritime security source said separately.