The UAEs' Federal Transport Authority said Wednesday all concerned departments were working to extinguish a fire. This broke out onboard an unloaded Panamanian-flagged tanker sailing 21 miles off the UAE after it sent a distress call.
"Teams of rescue and emergency response at ports started providing the necessary help once they received the distress call and rescued the tanker's crew," the Authority said in a statement, carried by the WAM news agency.
The Federal Transport Authority confirmed the tanker is "not loaded with any oil shipments. Early reports attribute the incident to an accident during maintenance operations."
"A proper investigation is in progress," an official at the UAE National Media Council said on Wednesday.
The UKMTO said earlier on Wednesday that it received reports of a vessel on fire northwest of Sharjah. He also prompted a warning from British naval officials to "exercise extreme caution."