The World - News from Feb. 7, 1986

An Iranian helicopter gunship attacked a Cypriot tanker in the Persian Gulf, killing four crewmen and injuring another, shipping executives in Bahrain said. The crewmen died when an Iranian missile slammed into the crew’s quarter’s on the 34,622-ton tanker Avocet. Crewmen abandoned the burning ship in lifeboats and were rescued by passing vessels. The shipping officials said that 36 crewmen were aboard the Avocet, which was bound for Kuwait to load oil. The vessel was about 10 miles from Qatar’s offshore Roston oil field when the Iranian gunship attacked. Both Iran and Iraq have attacked Persian Gulf shipping in their war, which began in 1980.