DUBAI (AP) – A Dubai court has found that a cargo ship’s mishandled peroxide caused an explosion at the city-state’s busy Jebel Ali port in 2021, a blast that was felt through the emirate, a state-linked newspaper reported yesterday.
The Dubai Misdemeanor Court sentenced five crew members on board the vessel to one-month suspended prison sentences and fined them AED100,000 (USD27,225) for not caring for the cargo and allowing fumes to build up, according to Abu Dhabi’s English-language newspaper The National.
Five other companies also have been fined AED100,000 each over their role in the blast, the newspaper said.
The peroxide arrived at the port on June 27 from China and was kept in direct sunlight for 12 days until the day of the incident, it added.
The newspaper said the ship’s Indian captain had maintained his innocence; the four other crew charged were from Pakistan.
Prosecutors also said the blast injured five people.
