2 oil tankers go up in flames after a suspected Gulf of Oman attack
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Suspected attacks left two tankers in flames in the waters of the Gulf of Oman yesterday, sending world oil prices soaring as Iran helped rescue stricken crew members.
The mystery incident, the second involving shipping in the strategic sea lane in only a few weeks, came amid spiraling tensions between Tehran and Washington, which has pointed the finger at the earlier tanker attacks in May.
The Norwegian Maritime Authority said three explosions were yesterday reported on board the Norwegian-owned tanker Front Altair after it was “attacked” along with the Singapore-owned ship Kokuka Courageous. Iran said its navy had rescued 44 crew members after the two vessels, which were carrying highly inflammable material, caught fire.
TV images showed huge, thick plumes of smoke and fire billowing from one of the tankers as it lay out to sea.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke of “reported attacks” as Japan’s prime minister held talks in Tehran.
“Suspicious doesn’t begin to describe what likely transpired this morning,“ Zarif tweeted.
The US Fifth Fleet said its warships had received distress calls from both vessels in a “reported attack.”
Iranian state media said the first incident occurred on board the Front Altair at 8:50am, 25 nautical miles off Bandar-e-Jask in southern Iran.
The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, a 111,000-ton vessel, was carrying a cargo of ethanol from Qatar to China’s Taiwan, official news agency IRNA said.
“As the ship caught fire, 23 of the crew jumped into the water and were saved by a passing ship and handed over to the Iranian rescue unit,” it said.
“An hour after the first accident, the second ship caught fire at 9:50am, 28 nautical miles off the port.”
“I can confirm that the vessel has not sunk,” Robert Hvide Macleo, chief executive for the ship’s owner Frontline, said.
The Panama-flagged Kokuka Courageous was headed to Singapore from Saudi Arabia with a cargo of methanol and 21 of its crew jumped and were rescued, IRNA said.
Crew abandoned ship
Singapore-based BSM Ship Management said it had “launched a full-scale emergency response following a security incident” involving the Kokuka Courageous which is owned by Japanese company Kokuka Sangyo Ltd.
“The 21 crew of the vessel abandoned ship after the incident on board which resulted in damage to the ship’s hull starboard side,“ BSM said.
“One crewman from the Kokuka Courageous was slightly injured in the incident and is receiving first aid.”
It said the vessel was about 70 nautical miles from the United Arab Emirates and just 14 from the coast of Iran.
Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said: “A tanker carrying Japan-related goods was attacked. There were no injuries among the crew members.
“They got off the tanker. There were no Japanese members.”
The incident came as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was on an unprecedented visit to Iran, seeking to defuse tensions between Toyko’s ally Washington and the Islamic Republic.
Tehran said it has dispatched a helicopter from the port of Bandar-e-Jask to the ships’ location for “further investigation.”
The US Fifth Fleet said: “We are aware of the reported attack on tankers in the Gulf of Oman. US naval forces in the region received two separate distress calls at 6:12am local time and a second one at 7am.”
Russia yesterday warned against rushing to attribute blame for a suspected attack on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and said the incident should not be used to stoke tensions with Tehran.
“I would take the opportunity to warn against hasty conclusions, against attempts to lay the blame at the door of those we don’t like,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. “Lately we have been seeing a strengthening campaign of political, psychological and military pressure on Iran.”
“We wouldn’t want the events that have just happened, which are tragic and shook the world oil market, to be used speculatively to further aggravate the situation in an anti-Iranian sense.”
World oil prices spiked after a merchant shipping information service run by Britain’s Royal Navy reported an “incident” in the Gulf of Oman.
Global oil prices gained around 4 percent immediately after the reports of the attack. Benchmark Brent oil was trading at US$61.74 a barrel, up about 3 percent.
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