Incident on Board of Nakilat Tugboat TUG 53

An incident involving a fire has occurred 25 nautical miles offshore on board of tugboat TUG 53. This incident occurred on the 29th of April 2012 at approximately 16:45.

Unfortunately, this incident resulted in seven fatalities and four injuries, three of them have already been discharged from the hospital.

The emergency response team responded immediately to the incident and brought it under control. All other personnel were brought to shore safely. Operations schedule is not affected .

The cause of the incident currently is under investigation، and further details will be released soon.

Tugboat TUG 53 is owned by Nakilat-Svitzerwijsmuller W.L.L, a joint venture company. Svitzer Middle East Limited provides technical expertise for the vessel operations.

We do not expect this incident to have any adverse impact on the joint venture operations.

[mappress]

World Maritime News Staff, May 1, 2012