US, Egypt dispute Suez Canal shooting - Yahoo! News UK
American reports are denying hitting anyone on the smaller vessel. But it is still unclear what happened.
The situation is not as simple as it seems. The ship in question, the Global Patriot, is, I believe a US Navy support ship (the equivalent of our RFA). All military vessels are required to "man the guns" while traveling through the Suez Canal. This is because they are under potential threat of attack.
The story reported from both sides says that a warning flare was fired and the smaller vessel was warned not to come any nearer. The smaller vessel carrying Egyptians was apparently carrying cigarettes etc to sell to the crew on the larger military support vessel and did not seem to heed the warnings.
These larger vessels pay tens of thousands of pounds to Egypt (? I think it is to Egypt) to travel through the Suez Canal. Military and merchant Navy vessels are vigilant and on the look out for suspicous vessels approaching them.
This is what I have been told by someone in the RFA who travels this route quite regularly and has had a few hairy moments.