A crew of 13 Indians were rescued from a cargo ship that caught fire near Khalid Port in Sharjah on Wednesday morning, reported Gulf News. “No casualties have been reported as the firefighters reached the site immediately and evacuated the crew members in time,” said Colonel Sami Al Naqbi, the director-general of Sharjah Civil Defence.

Six thousand gallons of diesel, 120 exported vehicles and 300 tyres were gutted in the blaze. Forensic experts of the Sharjah Police are investigating the site to ascertain the reason of the fire.

The civil defence team reached the site within five minutes of receiving information about the fire at 6.44 am. The blaze was brought under control within an hour and the cooling operation was over by 2 pm.

This is the third fire accident at the same site. The civil defence department and Sharjah Police will spread awareness among the crew members of all ships to prevent such incidents. “We will train them to use the extinguisher and fire-fighting equipment to douse the blaze till the fire brigade arrives at the site so as to reduce loss of life and property,” Naqbi told Khaleej Times.