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Drone fire at Damietta
A drone hit a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta, Ambrey said, triggering a fire that spread to another vessel, Gaslog Salem, according to Reuters trading sources.
“A drone hit a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker at Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta”
Reuters reported the drone struck floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that spread to another vessel, Gaslog Salem, and that two security sources assessed the likely cause as a drone strike.
Egypt’s petroleum ministry confirmed a fire at Damietta port but made no mention of a drone attack, and said the fire broke out on a gasification vessel and a storage vessel and was dealt with immediately under approved emergency response plans.
Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi went to the site to oversee response efforts, and the fire caused no injuries or fatalities, the ministry said.
The Energos Winter identity was confirmed as "ENERGOS WINTER (IMO: 9256614)" and Gaslog Salem as "GASLOG SALEM (IMO: 9638915)" by matching mast, stern, hull and foredeck to archive imagery, Reuters said.
Trump vows retaliation
U.S. President Donald Trump vowed Wednesday that the U.S. would respond “very hard” after the drone struck the U.S.-owned Energos Winter at Egypt’s Damietta LNG terminal, and he said, “We’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them.”
Trump told reporters he had been briefed but did not provide details about who carried out the attack, and he did not directly confirm that Iran was responsible when asked about evidence.
Egypt’s Oil Ministry said emergency procedures were immediately activated and that no injuries were reported, while it did not identify the cause of the fires.
The Maritime Executive said two dockside LNG tankers were hit simultaneously at 14.20 GMT on Wednesday afternoon, and that both impacts caused fires that local services extinguished with no casualties reported on either ship.
Ambrey said the crews were evacuated and the fire was brought under control, and Reuters reported the location was verified through port infrastructure, storage tanks, and ship tracking data matching archive and satellite imagery.
Conflicting cause, wider risk
Egyptian security sources denied reports that Damietta Port was struck by a drone, saying the fire was caused by an engine room blaze aboard a vessel and was brought under control without casualties.
“denied reports that Damietta Port was struck by a drone”
The Petroleum Ministry said the fire affected a regasification vessel and a storage vessel at Damietta Port and was quickly contained under established emergency response procedures, with no injuries or fatalities reported, while technical investigations continued to determine the cause.
Reuters reported that the Energos Winter had a storage capacity of 138,250 cubic metres and that it is owned by U.S.-based Energos Infrastructure, with technical, safety and commercial operations managed by Wilhelmsen Ship Management.
The Maritime Executive described the Damietta LNG terminal as a Mediterranean port facility and said the attack was an apparent widening of the war in the region, while also noting local services extinguished the fires and prevented spread to the LNG terminal infrastructure alongside.
In the backdrop of regional conflict, Reuters said the incident occurred shortly after Iran carried out a missile attack against U.S. forces in Jordan, and that Washington and Saudi Arabia struck Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraq, with Trump threatening to retaliate against Iran and Yemen's Houthi group declaring a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia.
