The Indian-flagged ship, From Diba, sailed from the Karachi port in Pakistan and was heading to the Ras Tannura port in Saudi Arabia. Some 26 of the ship crew members, mostly Indians, and 101 technicians tasked with maintenance works were onboard the ship at the time of the fire, Captain Murad said.
“After getting the information, we deployed two towing rescue engines from the Fujairah port to help smother the fire,” he said, adding that the blaze erupted as a result of a welding operation carried out in the empt y oil tank as part of the maintenance work.
Some fishermen who were a few nautical mile away from the fire scene said that they saw the flames and heard explosions.
Khamis Al Yamahi, a fisherman, said: “I was six miles away from the ship, but heard the strong explosion and calls for help from top of the ship.”
“We sailed towards the fire and we could rescue most of those onboard the tanker,” Al Yamahi said, adding that some of the crew members sustained injuries and some others were traumatised.