The chief official at the port where a Japanese supertanker was docked a day after it was damaged at the mouth of the Gulf said Thursday investigators now believe the ship was involved in a collision, backing away from an earlier theory that natural causes were to blame. 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 AP on the phone. Other officials in the region 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. A photo released by the WAM news agency after the tanker arrived in Fujairah, showed a large, square-shaped dent near the waterline on the rear starboard side of the ship's hull. Murad said he also saw damage to crew quarters inside the vessel, as well as some leaking water onboard. 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.
