Explosion Rocks Oil Tanker Unloading in Jeddah Port

An explosion in an oil tanker unloading at Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jeddah was set off by an “external source,” its shipping company said. The explosion took place early on Monday morning.

The 22 sailors on the Singapore-flagged BW Rhine ship were all accounted for and uninjured, the Hafnia shipping company said in a statement. The crew put out the fire with assistance from the shore fire brigade and tug boats. The hull of the ship was damaged and some oil may have leaked out, the company said. The tanker was carrying about 60,000 metric tons of gasoline, Al Jazeera reported.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the tanker. There have been several attacks on Saudi infrastructure in recent weeks, believed to be related to the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting the rebel Houthis in Yemen. Late last month, an explosion struck a tanker at the Saudi port of Shuqaiq, and a missile struck a Saudi Aramco oil company distribution station in Jeddah.

Monday’s explosion caused the price of Brent crude oil to rise above $50 a barrel.