Yemeni officials say the explosion that set a French tanker ablaze off its southeastern coast was caused by blasts inside the vessel and not a terrorist attack but the ship's owner is adamant the explosion was caused by a deliberate act.
"The fire on the French ship Limburgwas caused by explosions in one of its tanks which set off a huge fire," Transport and Marine Affairs Saeed Yafai told the official news agency SABA.
The agency said the minister "denied media reports that the incident was the result of a terrorist attack".
But Mr Jacques Moizan, director of Euronav, owner of the Limburgsaid: "To break through the first hull of this double-hulled tanker which was only two years old and in very good condition would require a powerful force."
Yemeni government officials had earlier said the Limburg, with 25 crew members on board, was coming into the southeastern Mina al-Dabah port in the Gulf of Aden when its hold leaked crude and exploded.
But an official source in Paris said France had strong indications that the blast was a deliberate attack.
The French foreign ministry said it was too early to determinewhat caused the explosion, although a French diplomat in Sanaa said the ship had been rammed by a boat stuffed with explosives, in a similar attack to the one on the US warship Cole almost exactly two years ago.
The tanker was hit this morning when it passed an offshoreterminal in the Arabian Sea off Yemen.
Mr Alain Ferre, administrative director of both Euronav and ship operator France Shipmanagement, said 24 of the 25-member crew are safe, but that one Bulgarian national was missing.
AFP &