Dubai: A day after the tragic fire that burnt down two dhows beyond repair on Dubai Creek, businessmen, who had their goods loaded in the vessels, were struggling to come to terms with the reality.
Dozens of Somali businessmen gathered near the dhow wreckage on Sunday morning, trying to salvage undamaged goods from the debris scattered around.
Meanwhile, Dubai Police is investigating the cause of the blaze. The fire broke out on a ship carrying cars and spread to another one, destroying the two vessels and their loads which included 15 cars, tyres, electronic goods, furniture, clothes and diesel.
One ship sank as a result of the fire, while the damage to the two ships are still being assessed.
Dubai Civil Defence confirmed that there were gas cylinders on the ships which exploded during the fire. An estimated Dh20-million worth of cargo was ravaged by the fire. Goods worth an estimated Dh15 million were burnt down on one boat alone. Both the boats were Indian owned, but chartered to different companies.
Charity
The fire is suspected to have started in the generator of the smaller boat named ‘Jhulelal’, which was tagged to three other boats lying parallel to one another. While two boats managed to escape, the flames spread to Bhakti Sagar, the bigger boat, despite its crew’s efforts.
“Unable to control the fire we jumped off the dhow unhurt. We saw the entire boat go up in flames. With all the goods and our belongings completely gutted, we are depending on the charity of our fellow sailors from other boats for food and shelter,” said Abdul Razzaq, who has been the captain of Bhakti Sagar for the last seven years, and is now training his son Feroze for the same job.
The 850-tonne capacity dhow, owned by an Indian company Baghyade Shipping Services, was ready to set sail for the last four days, but was delayed by inclement weather.
Inclement weather
“We had everything ready, our boat was fully loaded, we had security and customs clearance. We were only waiting for the weather to clear and this thing happened,” said Abdi Hassan, managing director of Mogadishu Shipping and Cargo, which had chartered the dhow.
The boat’s owner Manik Nikurawala was expected to fly down from India later last night.
According to Hassan, the seven-year-old boat is insured, but the goods were not. He added that the boat had no fire safety equipment, which is true for most of the wooden dhows, which operate from the Deira Creek.
The Dubai Marines Police based in Port Rashid were not available for comments regarding fire safety on boats, but a senior official of Dubai Civil Defence said that foreign boats are not bound by local laws.
“Most of the boats that operate from Deira Creek are foreign based and they are not bound by local regulations. For Dubai-based boats we have strict norms to follow,” said Major Ali Al Mutawwa, director of operations at Dubai Civil Defence. Hassan, who has been working from Deira Creek for 18 years, said: “We come across this problem every year, and we lose a lot of money and customers due to this.
“If this keeps happening then the business will suffer as well as the overall economy. I hope the government will do something and make all boat owners follow fire safety regulations.”
Understandably, businessmen who lost money in the incident were also gutted.
“I had a 40-ft container that was full of garments, which I was sending to Somalia. But everything got burned,” Yemeni businessman Ali Hussain, who has been exporting goods to Somalia from Dubai for the past 20 years, told Gulf News.
According to Hussain’s estimate, he lost around $70,000 worth of goods in the fire.
Meanwhile, Indian sailor Hanef Qasim, 23, sustained minor burns on his back and was rushed to Rashid Hospital for treatment on Saturday night. He was discharged hours later. No other casualties or injuries were reported.
