Lankan ship collides and sinks off UAE coast

A Sri Lankan-flagged ship has sunk after colliding with another vessel off the coast of Umm Al Quwain in the UAE.

All the 31 crew members of both the ships have been rescued, the Sri Lankan ‘Ada Derana’ newspaper reported. No one was injured.

The collision is said to have happened at around 3.30am on Friday about nine nautical miles off the coast. The police operation room dispatched rescue teams to the area.

“One of the ships with a Sri Lankan flag was coming from Iran to Dubai with nine Indian crew members. It was empty while the other ship with a Comoros flag was leaving Dubai for Somalia with 22 crew members carrying a load of different goods including 46 cars,” said a UAE police spokesman.

“After the collision, the Sri Lankan ship sunk but all its crew were rescued and all were in good health,” he said adding that the second vessel has been brought to Sharjah Port for repairs while efforts are underway to raise the sunken ship.

Although initial inquiries indicated that the Sri Lankan ship had stopped without having its lights on, police said the cause of the incident was still being investigated. It is suspected the ship had an engine malfunction which caused a power cut.

The case has been handed to UAE prosecutors.

Coast Guard officials in Sharjah confirmed the incident and told Emirates 24/7 that the Indian crew on the Sri Lankan-flagged vessel were rescued by sailors on the other vessel.

“These are large wooden vessels. We got a distress call as soon as the accident happened. But before we could reach the area, the men had been rescued by sailors on the other veseel,” a coast guard official said.

“We have instructed the companies involved in the incident to salvage the wreck of the sunken vessel,” he added.




 
 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.