An incident in which a fully-loaded LNG tanker broke down off the US east coast has raised concerns worried about a possible disaster along populated coastal communities.

A temporary fault caused the 1979-built, Norwegian-flagged 126,540m³ Suez Matthew, en-route from Trinidad to an Everett LNG facility, to lose its propulsion 45 miles east of the city of Boston at midnight Saturday.

“Propulsion was restored aboard the Suez Matthew within the hour and the tankship executed a successful test of propulsion by 8.45am,” said the US Coast Guard.

But State Senator Anthony Galluccio, was quoted saying that  “it was scary to think that a tanker could go adrift someday while traveling through the densely populated Boston Harbour.”

Galluccio said the incident highlighted the importance of having LNG facilities off-shore.

“The LNG folks will assure us these tankers are impenetrable and extremely safe, but obviously when you have a ship adrift carrying ignitable fluids it's concerning,” he said.

Edward Kelly, president of the city fire-fighters union, Local 718 told local media that there needs to be a more comprehensive response plan for a potential tanker accident in the harbour.

“A professional disaster analysis needs to be done,” he said. “In the reality of the world we live in, we are at war.”

A spokesperson for Distrigas of Massachusetts, a Suez Energy-owned company that operates the LNG facility in Everett, has been quoted saying however, that the Suez Matthew was always 'safe'.

“It's an unfortunate situation in that the ship lost its propulsion, but there was never a safety issue with the crew or cargo,” she said. “The tanker never lost its ability to communicate.”

Another source stressed that the “disabled tanker never presented a public safety risk.”

The Suez Energy-owned Suez Matthew is the second LNG tanker to have broken down near the state's coastline this year.

Many including the US Coast Guard say the earlier case was the more serious.

That incident in February saw the LNG tanker Catalunya Spirit go adrift for hours off Cape Cod because a computer glitch caused the vessel to lose power. After the vessel was tugged to shore, it took workers several days to restart the boilers.