Emergency services have rescued crew members after a fire broke out on a vessel off the coast of Sharjah on Wednesday.

The tanker went up in flames about 4pm, a representative from the UK Maritime Trade Operations told The National.

The tanker was about 30 kilometres off the country's coast between Sharjah and Abu Musa island in the Arabian Gulf.

The Federal Transport Authority said all departments were working to extinguish the fire, which broke out on an unloaded Panamanian-flagged tanker, which sent a distress call.

"Teams of rescue and emergency response at ports started providing the necessary help once they received the distress call and rescued the tanker's crew," the authority said.

It confirmed the tanker was "not loaded with any oil shipments and early reports attribute the incident to an accident during maintenance operations".

It is unclear how many crew were on board but the vessel had been in the region for about a month, authorities said.

"The UAE's coastguard has been assisting those on board," a spokesman for the UK Maritime Trade Operation said.