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Cairo: An American cargo ship under contract to the US Navy opened fire on a small Egyptian boat while moving through the Suez Canal, the US military said on Tuesday.
Egyptian authorities said at least one man was killed, but the US said it had no reports of casualties.
The Global Patriot, which was under short term charter to the navy's Military Sealift Command, entered the canal from the Red Sea at Suez after dark on Monday when it was approached by several small boats, according to both US and Egyptian officials.
"The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker using a bullhorn to warn them to turn away. A warning flare was then fired," said a statement from the US embassy in Cairo.
"One small boat continued to approach the ship and received two sets of warning shots 20-30 yards in front of the bow."
The statement added that "All shots were accounted for as they entered the water." It also said that "initial reports indicate that no casualties were sustained on either vessel."
An Egyptian security official at the canal, however, said that after the warning shots, a man was shot dead in the small boat and that the three other men with him were wounded.
The Egyptian government did not immediately issue official comment on the affair.
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