By Maha El Dahan, Sarah El Safty, Catherine Cartier and Arthur Wei
DUBAI, Oct 23 (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates said efforts were under way on Friday to contain oil leaking from a tanker vessel offshore that prompted authorities to close beaches and warn fishermen to avoid the area.
Since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, attacks on commercial vessels in Gulf shipping lanes have driven up security risks for maritime traffic and heightened fears over the conflict’s environmental fallout.
The UAE’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment said in a statement that containment operations had been launched and an environmental assessment was being carried out.
All beaches and coastal areas around the city of Umm Al Quwain had been temporarily closed until technical teams completed their assessments and determined the necessary safety and marine protection measures, it said.
The ministry also urged fishermen and other sea users to avoid affected areas and follow official instructions.
Authorities in Sharjah temporarily closed Al Hamriyah Beach, on the UAE’s northern coast near the border with Umm Al Quwain, as a precaution, the Sharjah Government Media Bureau said.
ANALYST IDENTIFIES LEAKING TANKER AS THE GEM NO.2
UAE authorities have not named the tanker involved in the incident or said what caused the spill. The environment ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Martin Kelly, CEO of Orbital Risk Intelligence, told Reuters that the spill was coming from a tanker called the Gem No.2 and analysts say satellite imagery from October 19 and 21 appears to show a significant oil slick from the tanker.
“The slick is considerably larger, covering approximately 160 km2, and looks to be coming from the ship,” Leon Moreland, researcher at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, said.
“Furthermore, a slick this close to shore increases the chance it could impact nearby beaches and ecologically sensitive habitats,” he said.
Shipping sources said on October 9 that the Gem No.2 was struck by an unidentified projectile 13 nautical miles west of Al Jazeera in the UAE, causing a fire that was later extinguished.
While no group claimed responsibility, maritime security sources told Reuters at the time that the incident occurred outside the Strait of Hormuz and pointed to a widening of risks for commercial shipping. Earlier that week, a tanker was also struck off the coast of Qatar inside the Gulf.
SPILL PUTTING COASTAL INFRASTRUCTURE AT RISK
Maritime intelligence firm Windward first identified the spill on Tuesday, writing in a post on X that a VLCC-sized vessel was leaking oil about 25 km (16 miles) off Umm Al Quwain.
Prevailing currents, it said at the time, could carry the slick southwest toward the UAE coastline.
“Windward’s drift model shows it reaching Sharjah’s and Ajman’s desalination intakes and ports by (October 22–23) if the leak isn’t stopped,” it wrote on X.
Residents in some areas had posted on social media about strange odours. The ministry, however, said that odours reported in Sharjah, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain posed no health risks.
The smell was still pungent across Umm Al Quwain on Friday.
The UAE relies on desalination plants for most of its drinking water, and much of the economy — including ports and industrial facilities — is also located on the coast, making any contamination along its shoreline particularly sensitive.
The spill follows a separate tanker-related environmental incident in August, when oil from a tanker that ran aground off Oman began reaching the mainland coast.
(Reporting by Maha El Dahan and Sarah El Safty in Dubai; Additional reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, Vinaya K and Tiffany Le; Writing by Ahmed Tolba and Maha El Dahan; Editing by Joe Bavier, Mark Potter and Jan Harvey)
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