Oil tanker BW line exploded on the 14th (local time) in Saudi Arabia. EPA=Yonhap News
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The Associated Press reported on the 14th (local time) that an oil tanker exploded offshore near Jeddah in southwestern Saudi Arabia. The explosion was found to be due to external factors.
According to the AP, the wrecked ship was Singapore’s’BW Line’, which signed a contract with a Saudi Arabian oil company (Aramco) affiliate. The owner of the BW line, Hyfna, announced that it was “attacked by external factors.” The state-owned news agency Saudi Arabia cited an anonymous Ministry of Energy official and stressed that a remote-controlled ship carrying a bomb exploded, a method used by the Yemeni Huti rebels.
The BW Line anchored in Jeddah on the 12th. The ship contained 60,000 tons of unleaded gasoline from the Aramco refinery in Yanbu, the western city of Saudi Arabia. Although the hull was damaged by an explosion and fire, all 22 sailors left the ship without injury, and the firefighters extinguished the fire, Hyfna said. Some oil spills into the sea as a result of this incident. Hypna said the damage situation is still being compiled.
No group has yet emerged to claim that this explosion was their job.
The British Maritime Affairs Organization (UKMTO) has called attention to ships passing by nearby areas and said that an investigation into the case is underway. It also reported that the Jeddah port was closed indefinitely. Dryad Global, a maritime safety risk management company, said that if the attack was the work of the Hooty rebels, it “means a big change in attack capability and scope.”
Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia last month, an explosion of an oil tanker occurred due to a mine attack, which is believed to have been attributed to the Yemeni Huti rebels. Earlier this month, an attack against cargo ships continued in the waters near the port city east of Yemen.
After the outbreak of the civil war in Yemen in 2015, the Huti rebels, supported by the Iranian government, are engaged in a battle with the Yemeni government, supported by the Arab allied forces led by the Saudi government.
Reporter Lee Byung-jun [email protected]
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