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Attack caused damage to Japan-UAE Tanker Agency
Investigators have found traces of explosive on a Japanese supertanker damaged near the Strait of Hormuz last week and conclude the ship was the target of an attack, the United Arab Emirates news agency said on Friday
The 31 crew aboard the 333-metre-long M.Star reported an explosion
shortly after midnight on July 28, injuring one seaman but causing no
oil spill or disruption to shipping in the strategic waterway.
“An examination carried out by specialised teams has confirmed that the
tanker has been the subject of a terrorist attack,” the state news
agency WAM said, quoting an unidentified coastguard source.
“UAE explosives experts who collected and examined samples found a dent
on the starboard side above the water line and remains of home-made
explosives on the hull”, the source said.
A spokeswoman for shipowner Mitsui O.S.K. said the company could not confirm details of the WAM report.
“The investigation on the tanker is still continuing, and while we are
looking at all possibilities, the company has not heard anything that
will help determine the cause of the damage,” she said.
A spokesman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet, part of an international coalition
of navies that patrol Gulf waters, confirmed U.S. Navy divers had
played a part in investigations but had no immediate comment on the UAE
report.
The report said the M.Star had left UAE waters to resume its voyage to Japan and trade sources confirmed the ship’s departure.
SEVERAL THEORIES
Industry sources said the tanker carried more than 2 million barrels of
Qatar Land and Abu Dhabi Lower Zakum crudes, equivalent to about half of
Japan’s daily oil needs.
The M.Star incident provoked several theories about the cause, ranging
from a freak wave to a collision with a U.S. nuclear submarine.
Two days ago, a statement from a militant group calling itself the
Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which is linked to al Qaeda, claimed
responsibility for the incident.
Bordered by Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, the narrow Strait
of Hormuz handles 40 percent of the world’s seaborne oil and is
patrolled by U.S. and other warships. Al Qaeda has threatened to attack
shipping there in the past.
A Japanese Foreign Ministry official had no immediate comment on the report.
Mitsui President Koichi Muto said he did not rule out the possibility
that an attack caused damage to the ship, the Nikkei business daily said
on Friday. The ship was smashed in on the starboard side of its hull
above the water line and a lifeboat was blown off the deck and windows
and doors were smashed.
Source: Reuters
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