A large explosion has rocked Dubai, sending a massive plume of flames into the sky and blasting windows and doors off homes. A huge explosion has rocked the city of Dubai, sparking a fire and blasting out windows from homes. The emirate’s media office said that a fire that broke out on a container ship in Dubai’s main port following a blast has been bought under control with no casualties reported. At least three residents in the area of the explosion, whose cause remains unknown, said that windows and doors in their homes were shaken due to the incident.
“A fire caused by an explosion within a container onboard a ship at Jebel Ali Port has been brought under control; no casualties have been reported,” the Dubai Media Office wrote on Twitter. The post was accompanied by a video of firefighters tackling the blaze on a large vessel stacked with containers, identical except for their logos, as the flames scattered detritus over the quayside. An AFP correspondent at the scene said a helicopter circled overhead as smoke rose from the tightly secured facility.
According to the US Congressional Research Service, the port is capable of handling aircraft carriers and was the US Navy’s busiest port of call outside of the United States in 2017. Such events are a rarity in the ultra-secure Gulf emirate, one of seven that make up the wealthy United Arab Emirates.
‘Saw the windows shaking.’
“I was outside on my balcony. My friend saw something yellow coming (like) the sun. I took the picture, and after (there was) a sound,” said intern Clemence Lefaix, who was staying near the blast site and posted a photo of bright orange light against the night sky in front of apartment buildings.
A Dubai’s Marina district resident, close to the Jebel Ali port, told AFP they “saw the windows shaking”. “I have been living here for 15 years, and this is the first time I’ve seen and heard this,” they said. The port of Jebel Ali handled 14.1 million TEU in 2019, a 5.6 percent decline, but still leaving it among the top 10 globally.
Are 8000 companies based at the Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) contributing 23 percent of Dubai’s gross domestic product last year? It is the Middle East’s most significant trade zone.
The glitzy Gulf emirate of Dubai transformed itself over 50 years from a sleepy port town to a regional travel, trade, and financial services center. The city-state is now home to more than three million people, mostly foreigners, compared with only 15,000 inhabitants in the 1950s.
Unlike Abu Dhabi, the leading member of the UAE that sits on an enormous wealth of petroleum, Dubai has dwindling oil resources and has worked to develop non-oil industries, diversifying into services.
