Sharjah Port Fire Still Raging
By Naveen  Frank
Daijiworld Media Network Sharjah

Sharjah, Sep 20:  The  massive fire which  broke out at a storage facility of an oil refining company located in Sharjah's Port Khalid last night is still raging even after 12 hours.

The Civil Defense and Police have been trying to contain the fire and avoid spreading to other areas of the Sharjah Port.  The fire unfortunately is raging close to the EPPCO  petrol station and the Emirates  Lube Oil company which itself was engulfed in a massive fire in August of last year. 

A huge black blanket of think black smoke has settled over the residential area of Sharjah even eclipsing the merciless afternoon  summer sun.  The Sharjah port has been shut off completely. The authorities have even used the help of the tug boats to spray sea water on the fire to cool and contain the heat.
The fire incident has also caused major traffic congestion in and around Sharjah due to police diversions and drivers slowing down to look at the smoke billowing into the sky.
The fire is believed to have started at Emirates Oil Refining Company (ERCO) premises at around midnight.  sending flames dozens of meters high.  The cold storage of ERCO and a plastic container manufacturing firm located close by are completely gutted.

ERCO is a sunflower edible oil and edible fat manufacturing and storage company. The huge fire sent a huge quantity of cooking oil hurtling all over the place and into the sea. There were  about 150  people working inside the factory. Although it is reported that 2 people are injured, it needs to be seen if there are any more casualties or fatalities .

Even after 12 hours police ambulances and fire engines have been are seen moving in and out of the port area.   Losses from the blaze have been estimated to run into the billions of dirhams, with some media reports putting the figure as high as 8 billion dirhams ($2.18 billion).