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SINGAPORE: Hafnia shipping company said on Monday (December 14) that one of its tankers, the BW Rhine, had been struck by an unidentified “external source” causing an explosion and fire as the ship was unloading at Jeddah port in Saudi Arabia. Arabia.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on its website that investigations were underway into an explosion involving a tanker and that the port of Jeddah was closed for an unknown duration.
Saudi state media later reported that a fuel tanker that exploded off the western coast of Saudi Arabia was attacked by a ship loaded with explosives, calling it a “terrorist” attack.
“A fuel transport ship, anchored at the fuel terminal in Jeddah, was attacked by a ship loaded with explosives in the early hours of this morning,” the official Saudi press agency said, citing an Energy Ministry spokesman. .
He did not say who was behind the assault.
“BW Rhine was hit by an outside source while unloading in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at approximately 12:40 am local time on December 14, 2020, causing an explosion and subsequent fire on board,” Hafnia said in a statement on its website. above adding I thought it was possible that some oil had escaped.
The ship’s crew put out the fire and no one was injured, the company said, adding that parts of the ship’s hull had been damaged.
The BW Rhine, owned and operated by Hafnia, is a Singapore-flagged tanker with the capacity to transport 60,000 to 80,000 tons of medium and light distillate petroleum products, according to Hafnia and Refinitiv shipping data.
The tanker loaded about 60,000 tons of gasoline from the Yanbu port on December 6, the data showed. It is currently 84% full, according to your draft.
