On October 6, 2002, the Limburg was carrying 397,000 barrels of crude oil from Iran to Malaysia, and was in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen to pick up another load of oil. While it was some miles offshore, an explosives-laden boat rammed the starboard side of the tanker and detonated, catching the vessel on fire and spewing oil into the sea. 90,000 barrels spilled into the Gulf of Aden.
One crew member, a 38 year-old Bulgarian named Atanas Atanasov, was killed, and several other crew members were injured. The fire was put out, and four days later the tanker was towed to Dubai.
The damage to the tanker was around US$45 million.
See also: Limburg tanker bombing, List of terrorist incidents.