In the Gulf of Oman, there has been an incident involving two tankers: The Norwegian Maritime Authority confirmed an attack on the oil tanker “Front Altair”.

The Marshall Islands-flagged ship had been attacked in the early morning between the United Arab Emirates and Iran, the agency said. It had been reported by three explosions on board, the ship was burning. The crew members were not harmed. Backgrounds are unclear. However, Norwegian ships are advised to keep their distance from Iranian waters until further notice.

The Norwegian shipping company association expressed its concern about the incidents. Association leader Harald Solberg said:

“We are very concerned about the developments we are seeing in the Gulf of Oman area, and attacks on merchant shipping are very serious and endanger maritime security.”

The oil tanker “Front Altair” was built in 2016. He is 252 meters long and 44 meters wide. Frontline is considered the largest tanker fleet on earth. It is owned by the Norwegian billionaire John Frederiksen.

What kind of incident it was, a spokesman for the company did not want to say. According to the shipping company, there is no danger of this ship sinking. The charge is “intact”. The 21 sailors were all brought to another ship with a lifeboat. The slightly injured sailor got first aid there.

Iran is investigating the serious incidents. Several teams of experts had flown with helicopters over the sea area in which there had been explosions, said a spokesman for the rescue department of the Iranian fleet in the southern Iranian Hormuzgan province. The Iranian authorities speak so far of an explosion, but not of an attack.

According to Irna news agency , “Kokuka Courageous” was on its way to Singapore with a load of methanol from a Saudi Arabian port. The “Front Altair” had therefore ethanol from Qatar on board and wanted to Taiwan.