The United Arab Emirates’ Federal Transport Authority said Wednesday all concerned departments were working to extinguish a fire, which broke out onboard an unloaded Panamanian-flagged tanker sailing 21 miles off the UAE after it had sent a distress call.
"Teams of rescue and emergency response at ports started providing the necessary help once they received the distress call and rescued the tanker's crew," the Authority said in a statement, carried by the WAM news agency.
The Federal Transport Authority confirmed the tanker is "not loaded with any oil shipments and early reports attribute the incident to an accident during maintenance operations."
“A proper investigation is in progress," an official at the UAE National Media Council said on Wednesday, citing the UAE Federal Transport Authority – Land & Maritime (FTA).
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said earlier on Wednesday that it had received reports of a vessel on fire northwest of the UAE emirate of Sharjah, prompting a warning from British naval officials to “exercise extreme caution.”
