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Oil tanker on fire off Dubai port after collision

by Sanjay Jha | February 10, 2009 at 05:02 am

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A major fire off the coast of Dubai on Tuesday was caused by a possible collision between a tanker carrying petroleum products and container vessel, port and rescue sources said.

A thick plume of black smoke was seen rising from the Gulf. It was not immediately clear what caused the incident or how much damage was done.

No oil has so far spilled into the ocean following an accident involving an oil tanker off the coast of Dubai.

A container ship collided with an oil tanker on Tuesday and set it on fire in a shipping channel off the coast of Dubai, the city's port operator said.

No casualties were reported, and two crew members were rescued from the water, said DP World spokeswoman Sarah Lockie. It was not clear which ship the rescued crew were from.

Authorities have been alerted about the fire, which was still burning early Tuesday afternoon.

The collision happened in a shipping channel eight kilometres from Jebel Ali Port, she said.

Clouds of smoke could be seen rising from the area. Lockie said crews were trying to contain the blaze and determine how to clear the channel.

The port is on the southwestern end of the city, in the direction of Abu Dhabi. It is the bigger of two major ports in Dubai.

Lockie said the container vessel is a medium-sized "feeder ship". She did not have details on the tanker.

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Sanjay Jha

flagged this story as Breaking

at 05:02 on February 10th, 2009

Sanjay Jha, thanks for getting this story out so quickly. It will now show up on the home page for four hours. If new developments justify it, I'll renew this flag for another cycle.