Saudi border guards rescue Iranian oil tanker crew

By Mohamed Khbesa

RIYADH (AA) - Saudi Arabia's border guards have rescued an Iranian oil tanker carrying 26 sailors off Jeddah city's coast in the Red Sea, state media reported on Thursday.

In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, a spokesman with the General Directorate of the Saudi border guards said that Jeddah seaport has received a distress call from the Iranian ship "Happiness I" which sustained engine failure that led to loss of control.

The oil tanker, carrying 24 Iranian sailors and two Bangladeshi nationals, broke down some 70 nautical miles southwest of Jeddah seaport.

Saudi authorities rescued the crew, transferred the vessel to Jeddah seaport, and activated the national plan to deal with pollution as a precaution to avoid oil leak, the source added.

Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) also reported Thursday that an Iranian oil tanker headed to Jeddah seaport due to engine failure.

The tanker set off two days ago to the Suez Canal and had to head to the closest seaport of Jeddah due to the technical failure, IRNA reported.

Commenting on the incident, Iranian Oil Ministry's SHANA Petro Energy Information Network, reported no oil leak in the vessel.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat