Fire at Egypt's Damietta port caused by drone attack: PM's office

The Egyptian government said Thursday that a fire the day before at the port of Damietta was caused by a drone attack, after authorities reported two gas ships were damaged by the blaze.

Maritime trade tracking firm Kpler said that Wednesday's explosion had disrupted operations at a key LNG import hub, damaging the Energos Winter storage and regasification vessel and the GasLog Salem tanker.

The presidency of Egypt's council of ministers said in a statement that a preliminary investigation into the incident determined "it resulted from a drone", noting no one had claimed responsibility.

It added that the inquiry was ongoing "to determine the circumstances of the incident and to take the necessary measures to preserve Egypt's interests and national security".

A private security monitor, UK-based Ambrey, had previously reported that the Greek-owned and Bermuda-flagged tanker and the US-owned-and-operated floating storage vessel were hit by at least one unidentified drone.

Energy facilities elsewhere in the region have been hit by drones and missiles over the course of the Middle East war, but Egypt had previously been spared.

The former head of the Damietta Port Authority, Major General Ayman Salah, told AFP on Wednesday that the regasification ship was moored next to the LNG tanker in the harbour.

"The regasification process takes place under very high pressure," he said, explaining that any leak could lead to a fire.