Was it, or wasn't it, a freaque wave encounter there?

Here's a news reported in arabiansupplychain.com by Casey McFann today:

Officials are claiming that a freak wave was responsible for damaging a Japanese supertanker passing through the strategic Gulf shipping lane.

"We have contacted the ship. The cause of the incident was a freak wave and there is damage in the upper accommodation decks of the ship and a few injured people on board," said a general manager at the UAE port of Fujairah.

The ship is scheduled to arrive at Fujeirah port at 1300 GMT where it will be inspected before resuming its voyage to Japan, he said.

"The ship is not being tugged and there is no damage to the engine," he added.

"The boat was hit by a tremor ...we have no information of an attack," said an official at the Omani coastguard.

Iran's International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering reported that: "A minor earthquake of 3.4 magnitude happened in Bandar Abbas."

A similar report by Reuters quoted an UAE Port official as

"We have contacted the ship. The cause of the incident was a freak wave and there is damage in the upper accommodation decks of the ship and a few injured people on board," a general manager at the UAE port of Fujairah told Reuters.

However AP showing the following photo released by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines in Tokyo, Japan's shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines' tanker M. Star:


and that:

The Japanese shipping company said Wednesday, July 28, 2010, an explosion, suspected to be an attack, has damaged the oil tanker near the mouth of the Persian Gulf, causing one minor injury but did not cause an oil leak.

which curiously did not mention freaque wave encounter whatsoever. Financial Times, on the other hand, reported this:

A Japanese oil tanker was damaged on Wednesday by an explosion that may have been caused by an attack as it was travelling through the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway in the Gulf.

The Japanese transport ministry said the explosion on the M-Star occurred at the rear starboard side of the ship, adding that there was “a possibility it was caused by an outside attack”.

. . .

Mousa Murad, Fujairah port’s general manager, was quoted by the UAE’s news agency as saying the tanker was hit by a large wave caused by an earth tremor.

This is a confusing news reading case at best! In the age of all mainstream media have been willingly become political hacks, the once respected "journalist" has lost all their creditability, it should not be surprising that freaque waves can be potentially used as news manipulator. So we don't know if tanker M. Star had encountered freaque waves or not. Judging the credit of a news report is at your own risk. We'll report the definitive results if it can be ascertained. Stay toned!

Update:

Now here's latest Reuters through forexyard.com:

JAPAN SUPERTANKER CREW SAYS HIT FREAK WAVE, SOME UPPER DECK DAMA

JAPAN SUPERTANKER CREW SAYS HIT FREAK WAVE, SOME UPPER DECK DAMAGE-UAE PORT OFFICIAL

If the source is accurately reported as from the "crew" of the tanker then I would be inclined to think the crew knew what had happened and there was freaque wave encounter after all!