Navigational mistake led to oil tanker collision near Strait of Hormuz, says UAE official

The Adalynn and Front Eagle tankers collided and caught on fire on Tuesday close to the Strait of Hormuz - a narrow channel which links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.

The United Arab Emirates' energy ministry issued a statement, which did not draw any connection between the collision and an upsurge in electronic interference during the Israel-Iran conflict.

Since the two countries started launching missiles at each other last week, interference has disrupted navigation systems near the Strait of Hormuz.

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The multinational US-led Combined Maritime Force's Joint Maritime Information Centre said in an advisory this week that it had received information of interference coming from near the Port of Bandar Abbas and other areas in the Gulf region.

Tehran has not discussed the collision or reports of interference.

The UAE coastguard said it evacuated 24 people from the Adalynn - meanwhile, personnel on Front Eagle were reported safe with no pollution visible following a fire on its deck.

The Strait of Hormuz handles around a fifth of the world's seaborne oil.

It links the Gulf to the northwest with the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea beyond.

According to monitoring service TankerTrackers.com, The Adalynn had no cargo and was sailing towards the Suez Canal in Egypt.

The Front Eagle was travelling to Zhoushan in China. It was carrying two million barrels of Iraqi crude oil, the tracker said.

The exact cause of the collision is still unknown.