Feb 10, 2009 - A tanker burst into flames on Tuesday after colliding with a container ship in a channel off the coast of Dubai.

Firefighters battled the blaze for three hours before extinguishing it, and two of the tanker's crew who were pulled from the water suffered minor injuries but no deaths were reported.

The inbound tanker, which was carrying a liquid used to make plastic, struck a "feeder vessel", a ship that shuttles cargo containers from big ports to smaller ones, about five miles from the Jebel Ali Port.

Details about damage to the ships were not immediately available. However, photos of the burning tanker taken by a sightseeing plane show what looks like substantial damage on the port side of the ship.

Fire extended from the waterline to above the top of the tanker as thick black smoke billowed hundreds of feet in the air out of a gash in the ship's hull, said Cameron Leslie, a pilot and director of flight operations at Seawings air charter service in Dubai.

What looked like "viscous material" pouring from the ship also burned on top of the water, as did two other chunks of wreckage about a half mile away, he said.

Mr Leslie, whose company provided the photos, said the container ship was also on fire.

Police helicopters and boats along with the Emirates Coast Guard and the port's emergency response division assisted in the rescue efforts, officials said.

The Maltese-flagged tanker, Kashmir, was carrying about 30,000 tons of oil condensate, according to Stephen Olley of the Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit in Britain. It was headed from Iran to the UAE.

Emirates state news agency WAM identified the container ship as the Sima Saba. The ship's destination was not known.

Jebel Ali is located on the southwestern end of Dubai and is the bigger of two major ports in the city. It is run by DP World, the world's fourth-biggest port operator, which is 80 per cent owned by the government of Dubai.