UAE closes Al Luluia beach after oil detected

Khor Fakkan municipality temporarily closed Al Luluia beach on the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates after oil patches were detected, it said Monday.

The closure came after an incident involving the crude oil tanker VIEIRA in the nearby Strait of Hormuz. Maritime security firm Vanguard Tech said an explosion occurred aboard the tanker last week while it was transiting the strait off Oman.

Wim Zwijnenburg, an environmental open-source investigator from Dutch peace organisation PAX, told AFP that radar imagery showed a large oil spill on November 6, one day after the VIEIRA was reportedly struck by a missile. He said satellite imagery from Sunday showed a spill off the UAE's eastern coast roughly 160 kilometres long, with patches indicating crude oil.

Zwijnenburg said the spill was linked to the VIEIRA because imagery showed the tanker 65 kilometres off Fujairah and still leaking oil.

Several oil spills have been detected off the coasts of Gulf countries. Last month, the UAE reported an oil spill from a tanker off its western coast in the northern emirates and later said that tanker had stopped leaking. Beaches in Umm Al Quwain, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah were closed at the time.