The coast guard group of the UAE National Guard rescued all 22 crewmembers from a cargo ship on fire in the Gulf of Oman, the organisation said on Sunday, November 8.
The national guard said the rescue followed a report from the ship's crew that a fire had broken out on board.
Specialist teams located the vessel, reached it and evacuated the crew, who were described as being of Arab nationalities.
The crew were given first aid and then transferred to the relevant authorities. All 22 were reported to be in stable condition.
The national guard did not name the vessel, identify its flag, or disclose the cause of the fire. Its Arabic-language statement described the ship as a cargo vessel but also referred to it as a tanker.
The rescue came a day after US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that a US military aircraft used precision munitions against the stern of the Saint Kitts-flagged bulker Huda in the Gulf of Oman on Saturday, November 7.
CENTCOM said the crew had disregarded repeated warnings and tried to breach the naval blockade against Iran.
The Joint Maritime Information Center has recorded 177 maritime security incidents in the region since March 1. Its November 8 update also logged a tanker fire approximately eight nautical miles northwest of Khasab, Oman, on Saturday, with the crew evacuated.
