DUBAI: Two separate explosions hit an Iranian oil tanker on Friday, which set the ship on fire, Iran’s ISNA news agency has reported.
The vessel is owned by Iran’s state-owned National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC), who identified the tanker as the Sabiti. No casualties were reported in the incident.
The company also denied media reports citing it as saying missiles hit the oil tanker.
The Russian foreign ministry also said it was too early to say who is to blame for explosion.
The explosion caused heavy damage to two storerooms aboard the ship and oil was spilling in the Red Sea, state television said.
Iranian media agency IRNA later reported that “the leak of oil has stopped and the situation is under control”.
Tehran said on that Sabiti was still in the Red Sea, “but its route will change,” according to an official from the National Iranian Tanker Company.
“None of the crew members were injured at the explosion ... the situation is under control,” ISNA reported.
The US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is aware of media reports on the vessel, but said it does not have any further information, a spokesman said on Friday.
Oil prices surged more than two percent in response to the incident.
Sabiti turned on its tracking devices late Friday morning in the Red Sea, according to data from MarineTraffic.com.
The vessel last turned on its tracking devices in August near the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. Iranian tankers routinely turn off their trackers as US sanctions target the sale of Iran’s crude oil.
Explosions hit Iranian tanker, Red Sea oil leak ‘under control’
Explosions hit Iranian tanker, Red Sea oil leak ‘under control’
- None of the crew members were injured
- The tanker turned its tracking devices on Friday morning for the first time since August
Hundreds mourn in Syria’s Homs after deadly mosque bombing
- Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect
HOMS: Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday despite rain and cold outside of a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs where a bombing the day before killed eight people and wounded 18.
The crowd gathered next to the Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the Wadi Al-Dhahab neighborhood, where the population is predominantly from the Alawite minority, before driving in convoys to bury the victims.
Officials have said the preliminary investigations indicate explosive devices were planted inside the mosque but have not yet publicly identified a suspect.
A little-known group calling itself Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its Telegram channel, in which it indicated that the attack intended to target members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam whom hard-line Islamists consider to be apostates.
The same group had previously claimed a suicide attack in June in which a gunman opened fire and then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church in Dweil’a, on the outskirts of Damascus, killing 25 people as worshippers prayed on a Sunday.
A neighbor of the mosque, who asked to be identified only by the honorific Abu Ahmad (“father of Ahmad“) out of security concerns, said he was at home when he heard the sound of a “very very strong explosion.”
He and other neighbors went to the mosque and saw terrified people running out of it, he said. They entered and began trying to help the wounded, amid blood and scattered body parts on the floor.
While the neighborhood is primarily Alawite, he said the mosque had always been open to members of all sects to pray.
“It’s the house of God,” he said. “The mosque’s door is open to everyone. No one ever asked questions. Whoever wants to enter can enter.”
Mourners were unable to enter the mosque to pray Saturday because the crime scene remained cordoned off, so they prayed outside.
Some then marched through the streets chanting “Ya Ali,” in reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law whom Shiite Muslims consider to be his rightful successor.
