Oil spill off UAE: beaches closed in Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah
A tanker is leaking oil off the UAE coast and several emirates have closed beaches. An analyst traces the source to a ship hit by a projectile in early October.
Symbolic image · Photo: Mtabuco / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Oil is leaking from a tanker off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. The Environment Ministry confirmed on Friday that the slick was reaching the beaches of Umm Al Quwain. The emirate closed all beaches and coastal areas until technical inspections are completed, while Sharjah closed Al Hamriyah beach as a precaution. On Saturday, Ras Al Khaimah also closed all beaches until further notice. Fishermen were urged to avoid affected areas.
Residents of Sharjah, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain complained of a strong smell of fuel; the ministry said there was no health risk. A European Space Agency radar image from Oct. 21 shows oil leaking from a tanker about 25 kilometers off the coast, according to The National newspaper. Authorities have not named the vessel or the cause. Martin Kelly of analysis firm Orbital Risk Intelligence told Reuters the oil was coming from the tanker Gem No.2. According to shipping sources, it was struck by an unknown projectile on Oct. 9 about 13 nautical miles west of Al Jazirah.
Marine scientist John Burt of NYU Abu Dhabi warned that cleanup is costly and that, if oil reaches the shore, full recovery could take years. Since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, attacks on merchant ships in the Gulf have heightened concerns about the safety of shipping lanes.