LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) – The Bahamas flagged crude oil tanker Sonangol Namibe’s hull was likely to have been breached after being hit by a blast while anchored near Iraq’s Khor al Zubair port, U.S. representative company Sonangol Marine Services said on Thursday.
The vessel was approached by an unknown small vessel at 0120 local time on March 5.
“The small boat approached the port side of the tanker and a short time later a loud bang was heard,” Sonangol Marine Services said in a statement.
“The crew reports that a port ballast tank is losing water which suggests some form of hull breach but the ship remains stable and safely afloat.”
The vessel was not carrying cargo and there were no reports of pollution, the company added.
The tanker had a contract with Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO and was heading to an Iraqi terminal to load 80,000 METRIC tons of Iraqi fuel, an Iraqi energy source and a shipping agent said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday that they had hit a U.S. tanker in the northern part of the Gulf and the vessel was on fire.
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul and Ahmed Rasheed, Editing by Louise Heavens)
