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Blast Damages Japanese Tanker Near Iran, Oman

   VOA News 28 July 2010

   Japanese officials are trying to determine what caused an explosion on
   an oil tanker as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
   Japan's  transport  ministry  said  Wednesday  that  the  M.  Star was
   carrying  about  two million barrels of crude oil from the United Arab
   Emirates  to  the  Japanese  port  of  Chiba  when it was rocked by an
   explosion.
   The  United  States  Navy's  Fifth  Fleet,  based in the Gulf state of
   Bahrain,  said Wednesday the cause of the blast was unknown.  But the
   ship's  owner  claimed the explosion --Â  which blasted a lifeboat off
   the  ship  and damaged some of the starboard hatches -- was likely the
   result of an attack.
   A  spokeswoman  for  Japan's  Mitsui  O.S.K. Lines told the Associated
   Press  that  "there  is  nothing  that can explode in that part of the
   vessel."
   The company said one crew member suffered minor injuries, and that the
   tanker  is  on  its  way  to  the  port of Fujairah in the United Arab
   Emirates to check for damage.
   About  40  percent  of  all  oil shipped by tankers passes through the
   Strait  of  Hormuz.   The  waterway, near Iran and Oman, connects the
   Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea.
   Mitsui  O.S.K.  Lines said that despite the blast, the ships tanks did
   not rupture and that no oil is leaking.
   Japan's  transport ministry has said the cause of the explosion is not
   clear. It said the area is not known for commercial piracy.
   Crew  members  on  the  tanker  said one person onboard saw a flash of
   light on the horizon just before the explosion.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

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