Awesome Narritive Twist! Plus: Bonus Reportage Timeline!

Freak wave hits Japanese oil tanker near Oman. Soo.. A 3.4 earthquake triggered a freak wave that damaged an oil tanker in such a way that others might assume "explosion," and "attack,?" Awesome.. Wait; what?

Bonus Timeline:

Blast on oil tanker near Iran(Written 14 hours previous in relation to the original linked article..). Excerpts: There were differing theories about the cause of the blast - which did not cause any serious injuries or an oil spill - ranging from a terrorist attack to an explosion of gases. Port officials in the neighbouring United Arab Emirates even said the ship was hit by a tremor-triggered wave..

Japan's transport ministry suspected an attack on the tanker.

"Since one of the crew saw a flash on the horizon immediately before the blast, the company suspects it was highly likely an attack," the ministry said, adding that the immediate area was not known for piracy."

Mysterious blast hits Japan oil tanker near Iran(11 hours)

Supertanker damage raises alarm in Persian Gulf(Nine hours. Still mentions a scenario of, "an explosion in a possible attack in the Persian Gulf..")

Japanese oil ship hit by freak wave.(Six hours. Aha! A change in theory - explanation - events!)

Supertanker blast scare blamed on "freak wave" . (Six hours. Kind of a combo-platter of explanations and contradictions..)

Excerpts from the last article:

Japan's transport ministry said there was an "explosion" at around 00:30 a.m (10:30 p.m. BST. local time and cited the possibility of an attack on the ship, but port officials said there was no evidence.

"A Japanese supertanker, which stirred fears of an attack in the Strait of Hormuz, diverted to a UAE port on Wednesday where officials said the damage was caused by a freak wave.(Awkward wording for Yahoo UK and Ireland..)
...
Japan's transport ministry said there was an "explosion" at around 00:30 a.m (10:30 p.m. BST. local time and cited the possibility of an attack on the ship, but port officials said there was no evidence.
...
"The cause of the incident was a freak wave and there is damage in the upper accommodation decks of the ship," he said.

Oman's coastguard cited "a tremor" as the cause of the incident, while an official from the Omani transport ministry said it was "business as usual" in the Strait.
...
A seismologist in Iran, which with the United Arab Emirates and Oman borders the Strait, said there had been an earthquake in the region, although the U.S. Geological Survey said it had no record of a tremor.
...
Captains of other ships near the incident also mentioned an earthquake, Attollah Sadr, head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organisation, was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency. (But none were quoted within this article. Me.)
...
"A crew member saw light on the horizon just before the explosion, so (Mitsui O.S.K.) believes there is a possibility it was caused by an outside attack," Japan's ministry said in a statement.

The U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain issued a statement saying the cause of the incident was unknown. (At the moment, nothing else seems to fit, anyway..)

"Initial damage assessment from the ship's owner, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd, Japan, is that one life boat was blown off the ship and there is some damage to the starboard hatches," it said.
Then:
Any impact on the Asian spot crude market would be negligible and the tanker would have taken three weeks to arrive in Japan, traders said." (So it doesn't really matter what happened: Move along, now.)

Why was there no mention of a tremor before the explosion? This story was 14 hours into its genesis and only after eight hours was the "wave angle" introduced as the "official explanation." Not that a wave couldn't cause this scenario, I find it terribly odd, though that a magnitude 3.4 quake could cause a wave that would, in turn, rock a SUPERTANKER and subsequently, cause an explosion. Any explosion. Any. Explosion.

And another thing: Wouldn't seamen Know what a freak wave feels like? Really; shouldn't that almost have to be mentioned more in the initial reports? I am no expert on anything naval, oceanographic, or seismological, but this just doesn't sound(or feel) right..