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An explosion occurred off the port of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia aboard a tanker owned by a Singapore shipowner who claimed that the outbreak, followed by several fires, was of “external origin”. Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the blast, which, according to the United Kingdom’s Office for Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), occurred on Sunday in front of the key Red Sea port and the distribution center of Saudi oil giant Aramco. Saudi authorities claim the damaged tanker was hit by an unspecified ship bomb in a “terrorist attack.” This was said by a source in the Saudi Energy Ministry quoted by the Saudi government agency Spa. According to the source, the attack resulted in a fire and damage to the oil, but no casualties.
“The BW Rhine tanker was hit from the outside while unloading in Jeddah by a bomb causing an explosion and fire on board,” the Singapore-based owner of Hafnia said in a statement, without providing further details. Last month, an explosion rocked a Greek tanker in the Saudi port of Al-Shuqaiq in southern Saudi Arabia. The military coalition led by Riyadh in action in Yemen in the war against the Houthi rebels, had attributed the responsibility for this act to the latter who, supported by Iran, have intensified the attacks against neighboring Saudi Arabia in retaliation for the military campaign in Yemen.
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