 |
| |
|
|
Lincoln
|
|
10/06 05:53
French Tanker Explodes After Boat Rams It Off Yemen, AFP Says
By James Cordahi and Sean Evers
Sana, Yemen, Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- A French oil tanker was rammed by a small boat packed with explosives as it was about to load at a Yemeni port in the Gulf of Aden, Agence France-Presse reported, citing French Vice-Consul Marcel Goncalves.
Yemeni officials said the blast was an accident, the state- owned Saba news agency reported. Eleven of the Lemenbourg's 25 crew members have been rescued from the burning ship; thick smoke is hampering efforts to reach the others, Saba said.
The ship was about to load oil at a terminal close to the town of Al-Shihr in Yemen's Hadramaut province when the explosion occurred, Qatar's Al-Jazeera television news station said. Al- Shihr is about 450 miles east of the port of Aden, where a U.S. warship was attacked in 2000, killing 17 sailors.
``It seems to be an attack in the same style as the USS Cole,'' Goncalves told AFP.
The explosion comes after the U.S. military warned of possible attacks by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. Oil prices are up close to 50 percent this year, partly on concern that conflict in the Middle East will disrupt oil supplies.
The tanker is carrying 300,000 barrels of Iranian crude, which it loaded at Iran's Kharg island in the Persian Gulf, Saba said, citing Yemeni officials.
On Sept. 10, the U.S. Navy said al-Qaeda may attack oil tankers in the Middle East, which produces more than a fourth of the world's crude oil.
Serious Threat
``While the U.S. Navy has no specific details on the timing or means of the planned attack, and there are no indications an attack is imminent, the threat should be regarded seriously,'' commander Jeff Alderson, a spokesman for the U.S. Persian Gulf fleet based in Bahrain, said.
Ship captains should exercise ``extreme caution'' in passageways such as the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the open sea, and Bab al-Mandeb at the bottom of the Red Sea, Alderson said in a telephone interview.
Royal Dutch/Shell Group and other international companies shipping oil out of the Persian Gulf have been warned by U.K. intelligence that tankers are becoming target of attack, a person familiar with the matter said.
The U.K. intelligence agency suggested that allied naval forces in the region should escort oil tankers in convoys to deter any attack on oil shipping, the person said.
Iran and Iraq attacked each other's oil tankers during their war in the mid 1980s, eventually leading to U.S. Navy military escorts of tanker exports from other Gulf nations.
About 13 million barrels of crude oil a day is exported by ship through the Persian Gulf, which narrows to 2 mile-wide shipping channels at the Straits of Hormuz, according to the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration.
----------------------------------
source
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Dr Strangelove
|
|
What about the Yemeni? They're the ones who are getting a big oil spill and a burning tanker in their harbor to boot? I wonder how appreciative the local Yemeni fisher men will feel towards al-Quaeda when their fish die off.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
chegitz guevara
|
 |
Ft. Lauderdale, FL Communist Party of Apolyton
Jun 2000
time: 00:22
|
|
RPT-Tanker Explodes Off Yemen Amid Bomb Speculation
Oct 6, 10:07 am ET
By Mohammed Sudam
SANAA, Yemen (Reuters) - An explosion set a French oil supertanker ablaze off the coast of Yemen Sunday, triggering conflicting explanations of an internal blast and a bomb attack from a small boat.
Yemeni Transport and Marine Affairs Minister Saeed Yafai said one of the ship's tanks had exploded, igniting the fire.
But an official source in Paris said France had strong indications that the blast was the result of an attack. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau said it was too early to say what had caused the explosion.
The ship's owners, the French firm Euronav, said the explosion had occurred while the Limburg was meeting a pilot vessel to bring it into the port of Mina al-Dabah, near Mukalla in the Gulf of Aden.
Lloyds shipping service said a hole had been blown in the side of the tanker. All but one of the crew were accounted for.
Reports of a boat approaching the tanker revived memories of an attack in October, 2000 on the U.S. destroyer USS Cole, which was rammed by suicide bombers in a boat packed with explosives in the Yemeni port of Aden. The attack killed 17 U.S. sailors.
Last month, the U.S. navy warned of possible attacks on oil tankers in Gulf waters by the al Qaeda network, blamed by Washington for the September 11 attacks on the United States.
But the U.S. Navy in the region said it had no plans to step up patrols as a result of the incident.
TANK EXPLOSION
Yafai, whose country has been working to shake off a name as a haven for Islamic militants, denied the tanker had been attacked.
"The fire on the French ship was caused by explosions in one of its tanks which set off a huge fire," he said in a statement to the official news agency SABA.
Yafai said all the crew had been rescued and officials said least 17 people were in hospital. The ship's owners said one Bulgarian member of the crew of 25 was still missing.
Rivasseau, the French Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: "At this point, while waiting for the results of this inquiry, any comment on the cause of this fire would be premature."
But the French official who declined to be identified said his country had "very serious sign, solid information" that the blast was a terror attack.
The French Vice Consul in Yemen did not rule out that a boat laden with explosives might have rammed the two-year-old tanker.
The French military attache in Yemen, identified as Colonel Vial, told France's LCI television the blast had occurred at the same time as a small boat approached the tanker, but added: "Other sources tell us it was an accidental explosion."
He said there had been eight French and 17 Bulgarian crew.
A Western military source familiar with the area said he did not believe there had been an attack.
"As far as we can tell, this does not appear to be terrorist-related. It is not unheard-of for such explosions to take place on tankers," the source said.
OIL SPILL
A Yemeni official said the authorities were trying to control the blaze. "The fire is still raging and the situation is very difficult," one official in Aden said.
Oil industry sources said the 157,833-tonLimburg had been carrying 397,000 barrels of crude and that it had been coming into Aden from Iran to load more oil. A large amount of crude has already leaked into the sea, one source added.
Industry sources said the tanker had been chartered by the Malaysian state oil company Petronas.
U.S. Naval spokesman Lieutenant Chris Davis told Reuters that the Fifth Fleet, which covers the region and is based in Bahrain, was not planning to step up patrols. "The U.S. Navy will continue with its state of readiness," he said.
There has been a heavy U.S. Naval presence in the strategic waterways of the oil-rich Gulf since the September 11 attacks.
Washington blames the attack on the Cole on al Qaeda, led by the Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.
Since then, Yemen has arrested more than 100 suspected members of al Qaeda and other Islamist groups.
The Arab state is bin Laden's ancestral home, and many Yemenis have been arrested abroad as suspected al Qaeda members.
In January, Yemen launched the only military campaign against al Qaeda outside Afghanistan, where a U.S.-led strike ousted the Taliban government that had sheltered bin Laden.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Eli
|
|
Israel
Jul 2000
time: 07:22
|
|
*coughthefrenchdeserveitfcough*
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Xeones
|
|
dont be silly. its only Terrorism (tm) if its against "america's best intereststs"
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Dr Strangelove
|
|
They must be hopeing to hit someone below the moneybelt, because the people who will do the real suffering form this attack are the Yemenis who are now living next door to an oil spill.
|
|
| |
All times are GMT. The time now is 05:22.
Apolyton Time is 00:22. |
top of page
|
| archivepost |
|
Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is ON
vB code is ON
Smilies are ON
[IMG] code is ON
|
|
|
|
|
|
06-10-2002 18:59
|