Earlier, media reported that an explosion had taken place aboard the BW Rhine, a Singapore-flagged oil tanker, off the Saudi port of Jeddah in the Red Sea. Saudi ships have previously faced similar attacks in the body of water by Yemen’s Houthi militia. Riyadh launched a military operation in Yemen to try to oust the Houthis in 2015.
The captain of the BW Rhine has told Al Arabiya TV that “small boats” were seen nearby before the tanker was rocked by an explosion in Jeddah after midnight early Monday.
