Collision sets off Dubai tanker fire

Feb 10, 2009 - A tanker burst into flames on Tuesday after colliding with a container ship in a channel off the coast of Dubai.

Firefighters battled the blaze for three hours before extinguishing it, and two of the tanker's crew who were pulled from the water suffered minor injuries but no deaths were reported.

The inbound tanker, which was carrying a liquid used to make plastic, struck a "feeder vessel", a ship that shuttles cargo containers from big ports to smaller ones, about five miles from the Jebel Ali Port.

Details about damage to the ships were not immediately available. However, photos of the burning tanker taken by a sightseeing plane show what looks like substantial damage on the port side of the ship.

Fire extended from the waterline to above the top of the tanker as thick black smoke billowed hundreds of feet in the air out of a gash in the ship's hull, said Cameron Leslie, a pilot and director of flight operations at Seawings air charter service in Dubai.

What looked like "viscous material" pouring from the ship also burned on top of the water, as did two other chunks of wreckage about a half mile away, he said.

Mr Leslie, whose company provided the photos, said the container ship was also on fire.

Police helicopters and boats along with the Emirates Coast Guard and the port's emergency response division assisted in the rescue efforts, officials said.

The Maltese-flagged tanker, Kashmir, was carrying about 30,000 tons of oil condensate, according to Stephen Olley of the Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit in Britain. It was headed from Iran to the UAE.

Emirates state news agency WAM identified the container ship as the Sima Saba. The ship's destination was not known.

Jebel Ali is located on the southwestern end of Dubai and is the bigger of two major ports in the city. It is run by DP World, the world's fourth-biggest port operator, which is 80 per cent owned by the government of Dubai.

ecological disaster

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• dubai
• tanker
• fire
• collision
• container
• ship
• Jebel
• emirates
• breaking
• news
• ecological
• disaster
• nature
• pollution
• marine
• wildlife
• catastrophe

[BongMaster12985]

What collision? I didn't see any skidmarks.

[Alien43]

@STIG1994 from the sea maybe ?

[davetherave7]

I think the only skidmarks were on the captains underwear...

[Icey909]

Oh well i guess some poor Arabs are one ship less today...they need to wait till next weeks delivery actually makes it before they down pay on another ridiculous super car buy.

[Maaafia]

Now captain off Kashmir is still in house arrest in Dubai! Filipino bullshit!

[Maaafia]

Poor old Kashmir... Filipino seamans done this!!!

[AnotherGuyWhoCamps]

Who died in an oil spill because of BP? Spongbob Squarepants! Polluted, darker and now he can't see? Spongebob Squarepants! If water thats thicker be something you wish, Spongebob Squarepants! Then open the oil valves and slaughter the fish! Spongebob Squarepants, Spongebob Squarepants, Spongebob Squarepants, Spongebob Squarepants!

[STIG1994]

Wow, i wonder where they get so much water from to spray that on the fire...

[TheFocusProductions]

Lol? Look again and take a closer look at the tanker's port side...

[deathwalkerunited]

N00b !!!!

Fucking killer of earth !!

[vjcsf1]

It is not a tanker......ok?