Tanker hit in Gulf

Press, 19 March 1988, Page 10

Tanker hit in Gulf

NZPA-Reuter Dubai Iranian forces attacked a Japanese-owned gas •tanker off Dubai yesterday, killing one crewman and wounding nine, regional shipping sources said. The attack on the Maria 2, a 4172-tonne Panamaflag liquid petroleum gas carrier, took place 12.8 km from the United Arab Emirates port of Dubai soon after midnight. I Nineteen survivors of the attack reached Dubai shore in a lifeboat. The nine wounded were taken to hospital and the other 10 seamen were in the care of security forces. The sources could not jpositively identify the ! crewmen’s nationalities. The attack set the ship’s I accommodation sector on fire. Reporters in a helicopter said the fire on the

tanker was output the hot metal was still/ sending up clouds of steam as three tugs sprayed it. -i Volatile LPG was leaking into the sea, the ship’s bridge was gutted and the vessel was tooled in several places, they said. The reporters said the damage looked consistent with an atta.dk by speedboats rather than I by Iranian frigates. Military /sources said Iran had /based speedboats at Abu Musa island just 56km north of Dubai after an Iraqi attack on one of its oil shuttle tankers. ; The attack on the Maria 2 was the /first by Iran for more than a month. Iran last attacked a ship, l pel Norwegian i supertanker Happy Kari, one /of many serving l the Gulf poi/ts of Iraq’s Arab allies, oh February 11.