When Iran attacked a fully loaded crude oil tanker anchored at Dubai port on Monday night, damaging the vessel’s hull, hundreds of seafarers stranded on tankers anchored nearby were close enough to watch as the vessel burned.

Thousands more were able to listen to radio messages sent from the tanker to port authorities, as the latest strike on a merchant vessel during the US-Israel war on Iran reignited fears for the civilian maritime workers trapped in a war zone.

The Guardian spoke to a crew member on one of the oil tankers anchored a few miles from the blaze. “Our officers on the bridge saw the explosion happen at around midnight,” the seafarer said. “When I came on to the bridge hours later, the fire was still ongoing. It’s terrible even to imagine what that crew must have gone through.”

Dubai authorities confirmed that the drone attack on the Al Salmi tanker, which is owned by Kuwait’s state oil company, caused a fire onboard that was extinguished early on Tuesday, hours after the attack was first reported.

Maritime firefighting teams put out the blaze and were continuing to assess the situation, the authorities added. They said there was no oil leak and no injuries had been reported. All 24 crew members were safe, the authorities said.

“We could hear the officers on the radios when they were hit; extremely professional and calm,” the seafarer said. “The ship was in contact with the UAE coastguard, but by the time the tug arrived they had largely contained the fire themselves. It lasted around three hours.”

In the hours since the blaze, dozens of tankers have chosen to leave the area to avoid any further attacks by Iran on vessels owned and operated by its Gulf neighbours.

“There are more Kuwaiti oil tankers around here, with crews that are definitely not involved in this. If I’m feeling scared right now, I can’t imagine how they must be feeling,” the seafarer said.

“We’ve picked up anchor and moved further away. Most ships around that area have now left. But there’s no safe place here, not really. Around us, I see dozens of other loaded tankers. I really don’t know how this is going to be resolved.”

The attack came hours after Donald Trump warned that the US would obliterate Iran’s energy plants and oil wells if it did not open the strait of Hormuz. The month-long conflict has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands, disrupting energy supplies and threatening to send the global economy into a tailspin.

Crude oil prices briefly spiked after Kuwait’s state news agency reported the attack on the tanker, which can carry about 2m barrels of oil, worth more than $200m at current prices.

After a brief retreat, the market surged to the highest level since the crisis began, after Trump reportedly told aides he was willing to end the war even if the strait of Hormuz remained closed and that military options were “not his immediate priority”.

The US president said on Tuesday that countries that had stopped short of supporting the US-Israeli military campaign should either buy their energy from the US or seize control of the strait of Hormuz themselves.

“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the USA won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” he said in a post on Truth Social. “The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!”

Brent crude prices surged above $118 a barrel on Tuesday and are on course for a 59% surge in March, the largest monthly gain on record.

The jump in oil and fuel prices has started to weigh on US household finances and become a political headache for Trump and his Republican party before the November midterm elections, since they have vowed to lower energy prices and ramp up US oil and gas production.

The Salmi’s destination was listed as Qingdao, China, according to reports.

The seafarer said the crew had yet to hear from the owner of their tanker after the latest attack on a civilian vessel. “There have been no messages at all [from our employer] about this latest incident or about any plans for the crew to be changed or evacuated,” they said.

Reuters contributed to this report