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Dubai Police rescue six sailors, prevent dhow from sinking

Dubai - Police towed the boat to a nearby dock before fixing a large crack.

The Dubai Police have rescued six Asian sailors, and prevented their dhow from sinking in the Dubai Creek.

According to Lieutenant-Colonel Ali Abdullah Al Naqbi, Head of the Maritime Rescue Department at the Ports Police Station, water leaked into the dhow through a crack caused by overloading the wooden boat with commercial cargo.

“The Command and Control Centre at the Dubai Police received an emergency call from the dhow’s captain as water started filling their boat as they were sailing out of Dubai Creek to an Asian country,” the officer explained.

He added that the maritime rescue patrols were dispatched to the dhow.

Lt.-Col Al Naqbi said the police divers detected that the crack was large. They immediately started moving the dhow to the nearest dock to secure the vessel before it could sink.

“Our teams succeeded in towing the dhow to a nearby dock, then our divers installed special rescue balloons to help keep the boat afloat before we used a mechanical winch to slavish it,” he added.

The officer said the police worked in collaboration with the Dubai Municipality to prevent further financial and environmental damage.