The United Arab Emirates’ National Guard said Saturday that its Coast Guard rescued 22 crew members from an oil tanker that caught fire in Arabian Gulf waters, in the latest maritime emergency to hit the region’s shipping lanes.
According to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), the Coast Guard Division received a distress report from the tanker’s crew about a fire on board. Specialist teams immediately activated response procedures, located the vessel and evacuated all 22 crew members, who were described as Asian nationals. They received first aid before being handed over to the relevant authorities, and all were reported in stable condition.
The National Guard did not disclose the tanker’s name, the cause of the fire, or when the rescue operation took place.
Possible link to reported projectile strike
A day before the rescue was announced, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency reported that an unidentified projectile had struck a vessel in UAE waters about 13 nautical miles west of Al Jazeera, triggering a fire that was later brought under control. Two shipping and security sources told Reuters the vessel was the Panama-flagged crude oil supertanker GEM NO.2.
India’s Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, said on X that GEM NO.2 was targeted in a drone attack at the Sharjah anchorage on Friday, October 9, and confirmed that all 22 Indian crew members were safe. UAE authorities, however, have not confirmed whether the National Guard’s rescue operation involved the same tanker, and Zark News is treating the two reports as separate pending official confirmation.
Wider shipping risks
No group has claimed responsibility for the reported strike. Tankers have faced heightened security risks in recent weeks amid Iranian threats to restrict vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy supplies. Earlier in the week, another tanker was reportedly struck by projectiles off Qatar. Maritime security authorities have urged shipping operators to exercise greater vigilance.
No environmental impact from the fire has been officially reported.
Sources: UAE National Guard; Emirates News Agency (WAM); UKMTO; Reuters. Vessel identification as GEM NO.2 is attributed to Reuters’ shipping and security sources and India’s ports minister; the UAE has not officially named the vessel involved in the rescue.
