A collision between two tankers that led to an oil spill and a raging shipboard fire in the Gulf of Oman (to the south of Iran), was an accident, according to an official statement both from the United Arab Emirates, and also from the UK Maritime Trade Operations (part of the UK Royal Navy).
Initial reporting raised speculative concerns that ships could have been hit (accidentally or otherwise) as part of the Israel-Iran war; however, it now appears that such concerns were unfounded.
“There is no indication that this incident is the result of hostile activity resulting from the ongoing regional conflict,” the UKMTO said in an official statement earlier this week.
On Tuesday 17 June 2025, at approximately 01:30am local time, authorities in the United Arab Emirates received a report of a collision between two tankers. A replay of the collision on the Automatic Identification System tracking website, Vesselfinder, shows a collision between the Front Eagle (IMO 9855343; 300,000 deadweight; Liberia-flagged) and the Adalynn (IMO 9231767; 164,551 deadweight; Antigua & Barbuda flagged) at approximately 21:15 Coordinated Universal Time on 2025-06-16.
The Front Eagle was underway at 11.5 knots (about 21.3 km/hr) and the Adalynn was underway at approximately 4.8 knots (about 8.9 km/hr).
UAE Coast Guard rescued 24 mariners from the Adalynn that day. “The ship’s crew was evacuated from the incident site, located 24 nautical miles off the country’s coast, to the Port of Khor Fakkan using search and rescue boats,” the UAE National Guard said in an official statement.
Khor Fakkan is located approximately 10-15km from the city of Fujairah, on the UAE’s east coast.
The UAE reported that the there was “minor” surface damage to the hulls of both ships, a “small” oil spill, and, a fire that broke out on the fuel tank of one of the vessels. Imagery sourced from various social media accounts appears to show that the fire was aboard the Adalynn.
The UAE’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure was reported by the official state-owned and state-operated Emirates News Agency to be carrying out a technical investigation in co-ordination with the relevant international bodies.
“The ministry reaffirmed it continues monitoring and assessment of the situation to ensure navigational safety and marine environmental protection,” a statement by the Emirates News Agency reads.
Front Eagle is owned by Frontline plc. The company has reported that all the crew aboard its vessel are safe and uninjured. Frontline added that there was a fire aboard the Front Eagle but “immediate action” was taken to extinguish it.
It has since been widely reported in the trade media that the Adalynn was operating as part of the “Dark Fleet” or the “Shadow Fleet”, terms used to describe ships that are used to transport oil that has been sanctioned by the U.S. Such vessels are said to use a variety of practices that are either not best practice or are unlawful, such as turning off the AIS system, or not carrying appropriate insurance. It has been widely alleged in multiple media outlets, that the Adalynn may not have had the appropriate insurances (particularly Protection & Indemnity cover, a type of marine liability insurance).
Shipping Australia consulted the database of the International Group of P&I Clubs and observed that searching for the “Front Eagle” or that vessel’s IMO number returned a note that the Front Eagle is entered into the Steamship Mutual Club (i.e. it has P&I cover from Steamship). Searching for the “Adalynn” or variants (e.g. “Ada Lynn” etc) did not return any results, nor did searching the Adalynn’s IMO number.
