Dhows destroyed in blaze near Ajman’s fish market

Two fishing dhows were destroyed after fire ripped through them in the port of Mushairef in Ajman. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

AJMAN // Three men were injured after a fire broke out on two fishing dhows in Ajman Creek on Monday morning.

The blaze began after a collision between the two fishing boats in the port of Mushairef.

The three Asians, who were on the boats, suffered minor to moderate injuries and were taken to the nearby Sheikh Khalifa Hospital.

Both boats were destroyed by the fire which happened near the local fish market.

Brigadier Saleh Saeed Al Matrooshi, general director of Civil Defence in Ajman, said that the emergency services were called to the scene at 11.40am and quickly got the blaze under control.

An Ajman port tanker was used to transport Civil Defence equipment to the scene and then bring the boats back into port after the fire was extinguished,the director said.

“The fire extinguishing process had gone through three stages: in the first phase the task of the Civil Defence crew was besieging the fire area; the second phase was the work on preventing the blaze from spreading to other ships; and the last stage was the complete control of the fire,” Mr Al Matrooshi said.

Firefighters used water and heavy and light foam to control the blaze, he said.

Witness Mohit Kumar Verma, 30, a boat captain from India, said: “While my crew were working on the launch, I saw a fire coming from the other side.”

Another captain, Arshad Mahmood from Pakistan, said: “Maybe the fire happened while the fishermen were cooking, I don’t know. But I saw a full fire coming from the fish market port while we were here working.”