Shipping company Hafnia said on Monday that one of its oil tankers had been hit by an unidentified external source that caused fire and explosion while the ship was discharging at Jeddah port in Saudi Arabia.

Iran Press/Middle East: “BW Rhine has been hit from an external source whilst discharging at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at approximately 00:40 local time on 14 December 2020, causing an explosion and subsequent fire on board,” Hafnia said in a statement on its website, According to Reuters report.

Dryad Global, a maritime intelligence firm, reported on its website that the explosion occurred on an oil tanker at 2211 GMT on Sunday.

"Reports indicate that a vessel has experienced an explosion whilst carrying out operations within the main tanker anchorage at the Saudi Aramco Jeddah Port," the firm said.

Also, the Twitter account of TankerTrackers.com said that it had identified the vessel as a bunkering tanker. "We identified the vessel based on the stated coordinates. This is a bunkering tanker that fuels other vessels."

According to the Dryad Global maritime security company, it is still unclear whether the ship that suffered the explosion is the Dominican flagged M/T Desert Rose or the Saudi flagged bunkering vessel Al Amal Al Saudi.

The incident comes less than three weeks after an oil tanker was damaged in a possible attack at the Saudi terminal of Shuqaiq, south of Jeddah.

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