DUBAI // Part of Dubai Creek was engulfed in smoke and flames on Monday afternoon after three dhows caught fire.
Tyres, blankets, plastic items and boxes of food – all on the jetty – were among the items caught up in the blaze.
One sailor was treated at Rashid Hospital for first-degree burns and smoke inhalation, and three firefighters were treated at the scene for dehydration.
No serious injuries were reported, although all three boats, which were to take their cargo to Iran, were destroyed.
It took eight teams on shore and three specially equipped boats almost three hours to bring the fire under control.
Flames could be seen from miles away, with those close to the scene clambering on to other boats along the wharf to see the smouldering and charred remains of the dhows.
“It is a very good thing that there were no serious injuries,” said Lt Col Rashid Al Buflaseh, Civil Defence general director office manager.
“The fire spread because of multi-cargo on the shore. There was plasticware that easily ignites, refrigerators with small compressors, paper, tyres and many electrical items.”
Information about the fire reached authorities at 3.04pm after which teams were dispatched, the colonel said.
The injured men were stable, he added.
“The man from the boat was vomiting and was take by ambulance to hospital.
“He was checked, treated and is stable. The other men had lost fluid because of fasting.”
As the flames raged, worried owners gathered on the dock, standing amidst cartons of almonds and cashews waiting to be loaded onto boats, and boxes filled with water pump equipment.
Some watched in despair as their livelihoods went up in smoke.
“I have lost everything, nothing is insured,” said Faraz, who estimated he had lost Dh600,000 worth of merchandise including refrigerators and batteries.
“I’m in tension. I don’t know what to do. Everything is gone.”
Another trader said he had lost a shipment of blankets.
“The boat was supposed to leave tomorrow (Tuesday) but now everything, all the blankets, are gone,” said Mustafa, who found himself in the same situation as Faraz.
“It was a container load of blankets we had on the boat. Nothing was insured.”
Officials said an estimate of losses would begin once the area was completely secured.
The length of time required to put out the fire was determined by the amount of different equipment required, officials said.
“One boat was a wooden dhow and the other was a fibre-glass boat, so we had to use water for one and the other we had to use a different chemical material with foam to stop the fire,” said Lt Col Ali Al Muttawa, director of the operations department at Civil Defence and head of Monday’s operation.
“The fire spread very fast on the boats and also quickly to the cargo on the platform.”
After the fire was contained, the wharf loading area was cooled and re-checked to prevent stray embers from reigniting material in the loading bay areas, officials said.
In March 2013, a generator was believed to be behind a blaze at the creek that destroyed two dhows. The fire started on one of the traditional wooden boats, moored near Al Jadaf dockyard for repairs, before spreading to the other vessels. It took more than 40 firefighters – on land and in specialist boats – about an hour to contain the blaze, which burned for several hours.
Just over two months later another dhow, which had just left the creek en route to Iran, burned. Port authority officers said the likely cause was eroded electrical wires.
An investigation into the cause of Monday’s fire is being carried out by Dubai Police.
Traffic flow to and from the creek was not affected.
rtalwar@thenational.ae
* The article has been amended since it was first published.
