Chemical firm blaze triggers explosions

A Reuters report quoted Rashid Al Matrooshi, head of Dubai Civil Defence, as saying, “There were explosions, sending debris up to 300 metres in the air.”

There were at least 25,000 barrels of combustible material and bags of chemical powder stored at the depot, Matrooshi added.

Port officials said the fire did not affect maritime movement in the area or ship handling operations at the busy port.

A spokesperson of Chemstore which handles the storage facility said over 100 tonnes of chemicals stored in containers were gutted, causing an estimated Dh15 million damage. However, the spokesperson refused to disclose the details of the chemicals, saying that it was "commercially sensitive."

Eyewitnesses told Khaleej Times that plumes of thick black smoke could be seen from far away.

"Civil Defence and police personnel evacuated the people from the scene and cordoned off the entire area," said an eyewitness.

According to port and Civil Defence officials, the blaze started at about 4am yesterday in a chemical storage facility located near Terminals 1 and 2 of Jebel Ali port.

A statement issued by Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Regulatory Authority of Dubai World said the EHS officials responded to an emergency call from Chemstore, alerting that a hazardous chemical storage facility had caught fire at 3.57am.

"Our fire-fighting units took control of the situation within 15-20 minutes of arriving at the scene, and were able to contain the fire within the premises. The situation was well under control and the impact of general safety and environment is minimal," Ahmed Abdul Hussain CEO of EHS claimed.

"The air quality and toxicity levels are being constantly monitored, and given the speed of the wind, smoke has dispersed rapidly," Hussain added.

Natunkumar Manvatkar, Vice-President, Fire and Rescue, EHS said, "Given the rapid spreading of the fire, our main objective was to ensure the safety of adjacent chemical storage facilities by keeping the fire contained within the Chemstore facility. We successfully did that."

People told to stay away

By Joy Sengupta

DUBAI - Senior officials of the Environment Protection and Safety Section of the Dubai Municipality have advised the people not to venture near the chemical storage depot in Jebel Ali where a major fire broke out yesterday.

The officials said that there could very well be some damage to the environment and they were closely monitoring the situation.

Rashid Mohammed Karkin, head of the Environmental Planning Unit under the Environment Protection and Safety Section of the municipality said a team of officials were at the blast site at the moment and inspections were being made.