Jeddah, Dec 14 (IANS): An explosion struck a ship off Saudi Arabia's port city of Jeddah on the Red Sea, according to reports on Monday.

Dryad Global, a maritime intelligence firm, reported on its website that the explosion occurred on an oil tanker at 10.11 p.m. (local time) on Sunday night, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Reporting indicates that a vessel has experienced an explosion whilst carrying out operations within the main tanker anchorage at the Saudi Aramco Jeddah Port," the firm said.

The cause of the blast is not yet known, but Dryad Global has suggested that it might have been a limpet mine attack.

"If indeed the vessel has been targeted by an explosive device it remains a realistic possibility that the vessel was targeted via the presence of limpet mines, similar to that seen deployed by Iranian forces within the Gulf of Oman in 2019," the firm added.

Meanwhile, the UK Marine Trade Operations, an organization under the country's Royal Navy, urged ships in the area to exercise caution and said investigations were ongoing.

Several attacks have occurred along Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast in recent months,.

On November 23, the merchant tanker Agrari was struck by an explosive device at the port of Al Shuqaiq.

Saudi forces reportedly thwarted an attempted explosive device attack at the port of Jizan on November 13, and a Maltese-flagged tanker is believed to have been struck by a floating mine at the Rudum oil terminal on Yemen's southern coastline on October 3.