The Olympic torch relay in Oman's Muscat, the ninth stop of its global journey, started on Monday afternoon.

The relay kicked off at local time 5 p.m. (1300 GMT) at Al Bustan roundabout in the eastern part of the coastal city, where lies the duplicate of an ancient Omani wooden ship that sailed to China more than 1,000 years ago.

The duplicate of the ship called "Sohar" visited China's southern port city of Guangzhou in 1981 in order to commemorate the ancient sailing from Oman to China and then was placed at the roundabout as a symbol of the friendship between the two countries after returning to Oman.

Accompanied by music and drums, Sayyid Al Mutassim bin Hamoud Al Bousaidi, minister of state and governor of Muscat, along with Ali Masoud Al Ali Sunaidy, minister of sports affairs and chairman of the Oman Olympic Committee received the torch lit by the Olympic flame in a specially-designed lantern carried by Liu Jingmin, vice chairman of Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games.

Torchbearer Shihab Bin Tariq Al Sayyid runs with the torch during the torch relay in Muscat, Oman, April 14, 2008. Muscat is the ninth stop of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay outside the Chinese mainland.

Local people wave flags ahead of the torch relay in Muscat, Oman, April 14, 2008.

After 250 meters, he handed the flame over to Sayyid Fatik bin Fahar al Said, under secretary of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture and also a member of the Royal family, to run another 250 meters.

The stop in Muscat is the ninth one in the Olympic torch relay outside China, and it has already been in Almaty, Istanbul, St. Petersburg, London, Paris, San Francisco, Buenos Aires and Dar es Salaam.

The Olympic flame arrived in Muscat on Monday morning from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and will continue its journey in Islamabad, Pakistan on Wednesday.