BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:45 P.M.) – An Israeli cargo ship belonging to Rami Ungar docked in Dubai on Saturday, following a powerful explosion that forced the vessel to head to the nearest port.
According to Israel 24 TV, the owner of the ship, Rami Unger, said that he “does not know whether there is a relationship to what his ship was exposed to and the tension between Iran and the United States, or because the ship’s ownership is Israeli.”
The site quoted a U.S. intelligence expert as asserting that “the ship did not hit a marine mine, but was hit from the surface of the water.”
The British Maritime Trade Operations Authority and a maritime security company, said that a ship was exposed to an explosion in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday.
The London-based Dryad Global Group said, “The ship in question is the MV Helios Ray, a vehicle transport vessel owned by Helios Ray Ltd., an Israeli company registered in the Isle of Man.”
The ship was said to be traveling from Singapore to Dammam in Saudi Arabia. No further details have been released regarding the explosion.