Work begins on floating cargo ships that ran aground in storm that claimed at least 3 lives

Five ships were being floated at Al Hamriya Port on Sunday after running aground in Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain, though one wasn’t as lucky as it sunk, claiming the lives of three Indian sailors at least.

Tugs attached hawsers to a ship that ran aground off Sharjah, but waited for a high tide to help refloat it. Thaer Zriqat / The National

SHARJAH // Work has begun to refloat several cargo ships that ran aground in a storm last week in which at least three sailors died.

Five vessels were washed up on the coasts of Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain.

On Sunday, one cargo ship was being floated at Al Hamriya beach after running aground off Sharjah in bad weather.

Another vessel sank in the storm, claiming the lives of at least three Indian sailors, whose bodies were recovered from the sea.

Two crewmen were rescued by coastguards and five were helped from the sinking ship. Two others in the 12-man crew remain unaccounted for.

Municipality teams and representatives of the company managing one of the other ships are now working on manoeuvring the ship towards the sea to allow tugs to pull it into deeper water to float it.

Capt Sanjay Prasher flew in from India to manage the operations to refloat the vessel.

“The ship has 18 crew members from India, they have not been harmed or injured during the bad weather. They have been on the ship since it ran aground,” said Capt Prasher.

Hawsers from the tugs were attached to the ship and one of the grounded vessel’s anchors raised while the other was dropped to maintain stability as the tugs turned its bow.

“It will be a slow process to nose the ship towards the sea. There is sand accumulated around the ship due to it being aground all this time,” said Capt Prasher. “Tugboats can’t pull hard or else the ship would lean to one side, which might be dangerous.”

Capt Prasher said: “We are waiting for the high tide. The tide will take much of the ship’s weight making it easier to manoeuvre.

“Weather conditions can also affect the process of moving it.”

According to his estimates, the ship may need 48 hours to be floated, weather permitting.

On the beach, municipality teams and police were coordinating efforts to ensure no environmental issues arose from the operation.