Damietta, Egypt. A drone caused a fire that engulfed two gas vessels at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta, the Egyptian cabinet said on Thursday, confirming that the blaze was the result of an attack rather than an accident. No party has claimed responsibility, and authorities said investigations were continuing.
Investigation under way
The cabinet said authorities were taking necessary measures to protect Egypt’s national security.
British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Wednesday that a drone had struck a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker at the port, raising concerns over a further spread of conflict in the Middle East.
Three trading sources familiar with the incident said the drone hit the floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that spread to another vessel, Gaslog Salem.
British maritime risk management group Vanguard said Energos Winter was struck by an unidentified projectile on its starboard side and that the resulting fire was extinguished.
Vessel details
Energos Winter is a floating storage and regasification unit with storage capacity of 138,250 cubic metres. It is owned by U.S.-based Energos Infrastructure.
Its technical, safety and commercial operations are managed by Wilhelmsen Ship Management, a Singapore-based subsidiary of Norwegian company Wilhelmsen Group.
Emergency response
Egypt’s petroleum ministry said on Wednesday that firefighting and security teams dealt with the fires immediately and that there were no injuries or fatalities.
Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi visited the site to oversee response efforts, the ministry said.
Regional context
Responsibility for the incident remained unclear. It occurred shortly after Iran carried out a missile attack against U.S. forces in Jordan, while Washington and Saudi Arabia struck Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraq.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to retaliate against Iran, and Yemen’s Houthi group declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, developments that appeared to widen the conflict since the United States and Israel began bombing Iran in February.
Reuters verified the location of a video posted on social media using port infrastructure, storage tanks and ship-tracking data matching archive and satellite imagery.