According to an article published in The NewYork Times and Kyodo News, explosions crippled two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday raising alarms about immediate security and potential military conflict in a vital passageway for a third of the world’s petroleum.
What happened?
The explosions forced the crews of both vessels to evacuate and left at least one ablaze, and hours later the causes were still under investigation.
Two oil tankers, including one operated by a Tokyo-based company, were attacked Thursday near the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, pushing up oil prices and fueling concerns about further tensions in the Middle East.
Japanese ship attacked
The Kokuka Courageous was about 20 miles off the Iranian coast when it transmitted an emergency call for help after an initial explosion. When the crew surveyed the damage from the first explosion, they saw a second unexploded mine attached to the hull and evacuated the ship, according to the American officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive intelligence matter.
The Kokuka Courageous was carrying 25,000 tons of methanol from Saudi Arabia to Singapore when it was attacked with what appeared to be artillery shells in the Gulf of Oman, near the Fujairah port of the United Arab Emirates, according to Kokuka Sangyo.
Another tanker engulfed in flames
The other ship, the Marshall Islands-listed Front Altair, was chartered by Taiwanese oil refiner CPC Corp. to carry 75,000 tons of naphtha from the UAE to southern Taiwan, company Vice President Chen Ming-hui said.
Chen said the vessel was “engulfed in flames” but all 23 crew members were safe.
Video footage released
Video footage released Thursday night by the United States Central Command showed an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps patrol boat pulling up alongside the Kokuka Courageous, one of the stricken ships, several hours after the initial explosion, and removing an unexploded limpet mine in broad daylight.
Crew members reported being safe
The Kokuka Courageous was left ablaze and drifting in the attacks. The other vessel caught fire, as well. All 44 crew members in the two tankers were safe, though one of them was slightly injured.
The crew members of both the ships escaped in life rafts and were rescued by a ship heading to the United Arab Emirates, according to Kokuka Sangyo. A Singapore-based firm that manages the ship said one crew member was slightly injured.
Japan’s transport ministry said details of the attacks and the extent of damage are not yet known, and the Japanese tanker is currently drifting without any crew aboard.
Attack on tankers condemned
Yutaka Katada, president of Kokuka Sangyo Co., operator of the Kokuka Courageous, expressed anger at the incident. “I don’t know why our ship was attacked,” Katada told reporters in Tokyo. “I’m angry that the lives and safety (of the crew) were threatened.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo severely condemned the attack referring to a similar attack on four commercial ships in the area in May.
In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guteress strongly condemned the attacks.
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Source: TheNewYorkTimes & KyodoTimes
