UAE National Guard Rescues 22 Crew From Burning Cargo Ship in Sea of Oman

According to Gulf News, the Coast Guard launched the operation after the crew sent a distress report. Specialist teams located and reached the vessel and took all 22 crew members off. They were given first aid and handed over to the relevant authorities, and all were in stable condition, the newspaper reported.

The statement did not name the ship or give its flag, owner, cargo or exact position, and it did not say what caused the fire. The National Guard also did not say whether the fire had been put out or what happened to the vessel afterwards.

The waters off the UAE's east coast lead to and from the Strait of Hormuz and serve the ports of Fujairah and Khor Fakkan. That makes any incident there significant for shipping and energy markets, at a time when Iran's army says the strait will stay closed and the US is enforcing a naval blockade of Iran.

The rescue followed two other incidents on Saturday. The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre, which monitors merchant shipping in the region, said it had received a report of an incident involving a bulk carrier and military forces in the Gulf of Oman, east of Khor Fakkan. Also on Saturday, US Central Command said its forces had disabled a commercial cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman after its civilian crew ignored repeated warnings and tried to break the blockade. No authority has connected either incident to the burning ship, and the National Guard's statement did not mention them.

This is the second time in a month that UAE forces have rescued a crew of 22 at sea. On October 10, the National Guard said it had evacuated 22 Asian crew members after a fire on an oil tanker in Arabian Gulf waters.

The ship's name, its cause of fire and whether it was involved in Saturday's military incidents are still unknown. Shipowners and insurers operating in the area will be looking for those details first.