Tanker blast scare blamed on collision

But the ship's owner refused to speculate on what had set off Wednesday's incident, which it described as an explosion on the tanker, until it had more information. The company initially said it suspected the ship had been attacked as it entered the tense Strait of Hormuz. The possibility of a deliberate attack has not been ruled out.

Captain Musa Murad, director general of the port of Fujairah, said damage to the ship's hull and interior is being investigated, but that clues point to a crash of some sort. The ship dropped anchor at the Emirati port for inspections late Wednesday.

“There was a collision. ... What it is, we don't know. That's why the investigation is going on,” he told The Associated Press over the telephone.

Murad was quoted by Emirati state media the previous day as saying an unusually large swell caused by a tremor damaged the ship. Other officials in the region also pointed to large waves or seismic activity in the area.

Murad dismissed those theories Thursday, saying they came from erroneous reports by local authorities before the ship had been examined in port. “It's not correct,” he said.

Setsuo Ohmori, deputy chief of mission at Japan's embassy to the UAE, said “relevant people” were examining the tanker in Fujairah.

“We are waiting for the results of the investigation,” he said.

Wednesday's incident aboard the M. Star supertanker happened shortly after midnight as the ship entered the Strait of Hormuz, heading out of the Gulf, Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said.

Mitsui said the explosion seemed to be caused by “an attack from external sources” while the tanker passed through the western part of the strategically vital waterway, a narrow chokepoint between Iran and an enclave of Oman that is surrounded by Emirati territory.

A Japanese transport ministry official in charge of crisis management declined to comment Thursday in Tokyo. The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols the region, said it is monitoring the situation but does not know what caused the explosion.

If the tanker was attacked, it would be a rare assault on a merchant ship in the Gulf or at the Strait of Hormuz, a transit point for about 40 percent of oil shipped by tankers worldwide.

One of the tanker's 31 crew members noticed a flash of light right before the explosion, suggesting something may have struck the vessel. The explosion occurred at the back of the tanker, near an area where rescue boats are stored, causing cuts to a crew member who was struck with broken glass.

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