UAE reports oil spill from tanker
DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates reported an oil spill from a tanker off its coast on Friday, as numerous vessels in Gulf waters come under attack during the Middle East war. Frequent attacks on ships have been reported in recent weeks near the Strait of Hormuz, at the heart of the conflict between Iran and the United States. The authorities “detected a tanker oil spill affecting Umm Al Quwain’s…
Dubai authorities reported an oil spill from a tanker off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on Friday, amidst ongoing attacks on vessels in the region during the Middle East conflict. The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment stated that the spill affected Umm Al Quwain's beaches, with teams dispatched to contain, cordon, clean up, and remediate to minimize environmental damage. Beaches in the emirate were subsequently closed, and access restricted by police.
Satellite images revealed a hydrocarbon slick surrounding a vessel approximately 20 kilometers off the UAE's coast on October 19, while further images showed a more extensive slick about 40 kilometers long, spanning 190 square kilometers and nearing six kilometers from the shore by October 21. The British maritime security agency UKMTO reported on October 9 that a vessel had been hit by a projectile off the UAE coast, resulting in a fire that was later extinguished.
According to tracking data from maritime company Kpler, the vessel involved was the oil tanker GEM NO.2, a Panamanian-flagged ship operated by Taiwan's Global Energy Maritime. The tanker had loaded 2 million barrels of oil in early March from a Saudi port and had been regularly transferring cargo in the Emirati and Omani coastal waters near the Strait of Hormuz since then.
Residents in northern UAE have noticed chemical smells on social media in recent days, with one Sharjah resident describing a "gas station smell" that prompted panic. The UAE authorities assured that the odors posed no health risks. Greenpeace MENA's Inesaf Benzaki emphasized the importance of monitoring and assessing the spill's environmental impact to protect marine ecosystems and communities reliant on them.
The ongoing Middle East war, which began in February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has seen Tehran assert control over the Strait of Hormuz and target ships passing through without authorization. In response, the United States has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports and escorted tankers through the narrow waterway.
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