The key facts
- On the night of October 28, Ajman hotels notified guests of a swimming ban
- Police are demanding that people leave the water and the shore; some beaches are cordoned off with tape
- Earlier, tourists reported rashes after swimming and beach closures in Ras Al Khaimah
Swimming banned in Ajman
In the emirate of Ajman in the UAE, police are escorting tourists out of the sea due to oil pollution of the water. This is reported by Life.ru, citing the Telegram channel SHOT and accounts from vacationers. As early as the night of October 28, guests of the Ramada hotel received written notices of a swimming ban, yet in the morning some tourists still went to the beach, since the water initially looked clean. Later, vacationers noticed a sharp smell of petroleum products and saw pollution in the sea.
Measures on the coast
Closer to midday, police appeared on the coast: they demanded that swimmers get out of the water and then ordered everyone to leave the shore as well. Some hotels completely cordoned off their beaches with warning tape. According to witnesses, violators were warned that if they ignored the ban again, access to the sea could be closed off entirely. Vacationers also noticed an aircraft over the coast spraying an unknown substance — the tourists themselves suggest it was used to deal with the pollution, but there is no official confirmation of this in the reports.
Context from previous days
This is not the first such alert from the UAE coast. According to SHOT, Russian tourists had earlier complained about rashes appearing after swimming in the sea, and staff at some hotels asked guests not to photograph the polluted shoreline. Before that, as SHOT reported citing vacationers, Russians reported beach closures due to a fuel oil spill: hotels offered them the use of pools that could not accommodate all guests, and some had to look on their own for a place to swim outside the polluted area. Earlier, according to media reports, all beaches of the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah were also closed due to pollution.
What remains unclear
The reports contain only testimonies from tourists and a retelling of the Telegram channel: the source of the spill, its scale, and the timeline for resuming swimming have not been officially named. The purpose of the aircraft spotted over the coast has also not been confirmed. Tourists planning a vacation in Ajman should keep in mind that the restrictions have been in effect since at least the night of October 28 and apply to the beaches of several hotels.
