A fully loaded Kuwaiti crude oil tanker was struck by an Iranian drone attack at Dubai’s Jebel Ali port anchorage in the UAE, damaging the vessel's hull, raising concerns about a possible oil spill.
Dubai authorities said that the drone attack caused a fire on board the Al Salmi, which was extinguished early on Tuesday hours after the attack was first reported.
The attack came after US President Donald Trump warned that the US would obliterate Iran's energy plants and oil wells if it did not open the Strait of Hormuz.
The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation has now reportedly warned that the damage could lead to an oil spill.
Dubai authorities have also confirmed that all 24 crew members aboard the Kuwaiti tanker are safe after the incident, with no injuries reported.
The tanker, which was built in 2011, is a very large crude carrier vessel measuring 333 metres in length with a beam of 60 meters. The summer deadweight capacity of the vessel is 319660 tonnes.
At the time of the attack, the vessel was carrying around 2 million barrels of crude oil, of which 1.2 million were sourced from Saudi Arabia and 800,000 barrels from Kuwait and was bound for Qingdao, China.
Any damage to the vessel is of serious concern and could be catastrophic to the environment due to the massive load of crude it carries.
Authorities in Dubai say they are assessing the damage and evacuating the crew from the vessel.
