DUBAI/MUSCAT, Aug 12 (Reuters) - An oil tanker collided with
a U.S. Navy ship near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday but no one
was hurt and shipping traffic in the waterway, through which 40
percent of the world's seaborne oil exports pass, was not
affected, officials said.
"Both vessels are okay and the Strait of Hormuz is not
closed, and business is as usual there," an Oman coastguard
official told Reuters, declining to be named.
The Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet said the
Panamanian-flagged, Japanese-owned bulk oil tanker M/V Otowasan
collided with the USS Porter, a guided-missile destroyer, in the
early hours of Sunday.
The navy vessel remained able to operate under its own power
after the collision, which was not combat-related, the statement
added without elaborating on how the accident happened. An
investigation was underway.
Photographs released by the U.S. Navy showed a large dent,
several metres (yards) high, in the starboard side of the USS
Porter just in front of the ship's superstructure and above the
waterline. Personnel hung over the side inspecting the damage.
Tensions have risen in the Gulf this year as Iran has
threatened to close the strait to international shipping if its
dispute with the United States over its nuclear programme
escalates. Washington says it maintains naval forces in the Gulf
to ensure security in the region.
The oil tanker, owned by Japan's Mitsui OSK, was bound for
the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah from Mesaieed in
Qatar, according to ship tracking websites.
