Chemical Tanker Stolt Magnesium Hit by Explosion off Omani Coast, Manager Says

The chemical tanker Stolt Magnesium caught fire on Tuesday following the “explosion of an unidentified external device” as it was sailing in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman, according to its manager Stolt Tankers, the main unit of Norwegian shipping company Stolt-Nielsen.

• The incident occurred at 12:40 a.m. (2040 GMT on Monday) and caused a fire in the vessel’s engine room, it said in a statement.
• All of the vessel’s seafarers were safe and accounted for, it added, and the crew had begun fighting the fire.
• The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations had reported an incident 40 nautical miles northeast of Oman’s Qalhat, which matches the location of Stolt Magnesium on LSEG shipping data.
• In another incident, UAE’s crude tankers, VLCCs Mombasa B and Al Bahyah, were struck by Iranian cruise missiles while transiting Hormuz, which resulted in significant damage to the ships and the death of one crew member.

(Reporting by Jonathon Saul; writing by Nayera Abdallah; editing by Joe Bavier)

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