On Wednesday evening, July 7, civilians were brought under control after a fire broke out in a container inside a ship anchored in the port of Jebel Ali in Dubai. The city’s press service (Dubai Media Office, DMO) said there were no casualties or injuries in the fire. Such events are rare in the ultra-secure city-state, one of the seven presidents who make up the United Arab Emirates.
Speaking on television, DMO chief executive Mona al-Marri said the fire was caused by a partial explosion. «Accident is normal Because there are combustible materials in a container.
The ship was loading 130 containers “They contain three combustible materials”Dubai police told local TV channels that the group consisted of fourteen people.
Jebel Ali port officials promised to pick it up “All necessary steps will be taken to ensure that the normal movement of ships in the port continues uninterrupted.”, Added DMO.
The windows shook
At least three residents in the area where the incident took place reported that the doors and windows of their homes were violently shaken by the explosion.
“I was on my balcony. My friend saw something yellow happening like the sun. I took a picture and then we heard noise ”, Clemens LeBois, who was near the blast, released a picture of a bright, orange light in the sky at midnight in front of the buildings.
A resident of the Medina district near the port told Agencies France-Presse (AFP) that he had “I saw the windows tremble”. “I’ve been living here for fifteen years, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen and heard something like this.”, He added.
Jebel Ali is the headquarters of DP World, an Emirati company that is one of the world’s leading port operators managing 49 terminals worldwide. The largest port in the south of the Emirates could accommodate aircraft carriers and was the most active U.S. naval port outside the United States in 2017, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
Jebel Ali Port handled 14.1 million TEUs (equivalent of twenty feet) in 2019, down 5.6%, but it is still in the top ten in the world. There are about 8,000 companies in the Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jaffa) that accounted for 23% of Dubai’s GDP (GDP) last year. It is the largest trading area in the Middle East.
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