The Sharjah Civil Defence firefighters saved a crew of 13 from a burning dhow at Sharjah Creek near Khalid Port on Wednesday morning.
The crew of 13 Indians were aboard a dhow loaded with 6000 gallons of diesel, 300 vehicle tyres and 120 exported vehicles.
Due to the promptness of the firefighters in reaching the site, no casualties were reported, said Colonel Sami Al Naqbi, Director-general of Sharjah Civil Defence.
The Director- general said, the civil defence got to the location within five minutes of receiving the news. They were able to shift the crew to safety and contain the fire within an hour. The cooling operation was completed by 2:00pm.
With this incident being the third fire accident to take place at the site, the site has been handed over to forensic expert of Sharjah Police to investigate the cause of it.
In addition to the investigation, the civil defence in collaboration with Sharjah Police will create awareness among the crew members of all ships anchored at Khalid Port to prevent repeat of such incidents.
Colonel Sami Al Naqbi said, "we will train them to use the extinguisher and fire-fighting equipment to douse the blaze till the fire brigade arrives at the site so as to reduce loss of life and property."
Excluding the crew, everything aboard the dhow got burnt in the massive blaze.