Efforts on to discharge rescued tanker's cargo

Dubai: The tanker involved in a collision with a container ship off the coast of Dubai on Tuesday has been transferred to a safe anchorage area.

Senior officers have been allowed to board the vessel and they are evaluating whether they can moor the tanker at a shore terminal in order to discharge the cargo on board and send it for repairs. The container ship suffered significant damage to its midsection.

The incident, which occurred at 12.25pm on Tuesday approximately five miles from the Jebel Ali Port, involved the inbound tanker Kashmir carrying 20 crew and a Singapore-flagged container ship with 19 crew. Tugboats helped fight the blazes on both vessels and they were extinguished at around 1.35pm. A spokesperson for DPA K-Ships said an investigation conducted by the local authority showed there was no pollution caused by the accident.

The spokesperson said: "Our vessel, the Kashmir, collided with the container vessel Sima Saman. The impact occurred in the portside area causing a hole in the tank and fire to the midship.

"Immediately the crew of the Kashmir started the fire pump in an attempt to fight the blaze but within a few minutes they were forced to abandon the vessel due to the critical situation.

"The master of the Kashmir sounded the emergency alarm and ordered abandoning of the ship. All the crew members disembarked via the starboard side lifeboat."

Teams from the Regional Clean Sea Organisation and Seacor Environmental Services - both oil clean-up companies - were alerted to the accident.

A spokesperson for Seacor Environmental Services, said: "We're working with the port and the evaluation process is continuing; it's not a fast process. There are a lot of issues but the situation is under control. The tanker was not carrying crude oil.

"It depends on the currents but the cargo os highly unlikely to contaminate the shoreline. Seacor employees are onboard evaluating the condition of the vessel."

The tanker's master declared the vessel was between buoys two and three in the port channel at the time of the accident. He said visibility was reduced to approximately 100 metres and that the fog horn was continuously being sounded.

The DPA K-Ships spokesperson added: "We held a meeting in the company office on Tuesday to establish whether human life was in danger, whether the vessel or cargo was damaged and whether there was a environmental threat."

- With inputs from Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter