Iranians go fishing for iPhones and French perfume floating in the Strait of Hormuz after container ship is blown up by mine and sinks

This is the moment Iranians went fishing for iPhones and French perfume after a container ship was blown up by a mine and sank in the Strait of Hormuz. 

Footage shows hundreds of men scrambling for loot after thousands of containers were left floating in the vital waterway. 

According to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the ship had sailed through an 'unauthorised and dangerous' part of the strait when it hit a mine.

The cargo vessel had sunk after a blaze erupted on board and all 21 crew members were evacuated uninjured. 

More than 2,500 containers were being transported by the Singapore-flagged ship GFS Pride on October 13.

The 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. It sustained hull damage and reached a safe anchorage under its own propulsion.

The containers on board GFS Pride had reportedly been carrying 'iPhones and perfume' and Iranian fishermen promptly scrambled to recover the floating cargo. 

In footage from the incident, one man is heard saying: 'We are gathering and heading towards the Strait of Hormuz.

'We heard a container ship sank, so we're going to collect iPhones and perfume.' 

Several large cargo containers are seen with thousands of items floating in the water.  

The sinking of GFS Pride comes 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 back in February.

As of June, an estimated 80 mines had been placed in it, according to the International Maritime Organization.

But last month, President Donald Trump announced '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.

READ MORE: US Navy launched top secret four-month mission to clear mines from the Strait of Hormuz in risky night time operation