Limburg

On 6 October 2002 at 8 am, the French double hull oil tanker the Limburg was hit by explosives from a small craft. The vessel, with a total capacity of 300,000 tonnes, was going to the loading buoy (SBM) at the Ash Shihr oil terminal (Hadramawt province) with 57,000 tonnes of crude Arabian heavy to top off, after a stop in Ra’s Tannura (Saudi Arabia), when the explosion occured at 3 km from the terminal.

As a result of the attack, the starboard tank number 4 was holed in two places, and the spilled hydrocarbon went on fire. The fire lasted for 36 hours. It was fought by the tug boat present next to the SBM loading buoy and by the security staff of Nexen company.