Fire at crowded villa claims two lives
sharjah — A 38-year-old Pakistani woman and her seven-yearold son suffocated to death after a fire broke out in their villa in Sharjah’s Maysaloon area on Monday night. The blaze also gutted the deceased’s car, which was parked near the entrance of the house.
Col. Sami Al Naqbi, directorgeneral of Sharjah Civil Defence, said the operations room received a call at 9.43pm and immediately dispatched a team of firefighters from the headquarters and Samnan and Al Mina fire stations. The team reached the site in under two minutes.
After the blaze was doused, the site was handed over to the Sharjah Police for investigation.
Adil Al Mazmi, a fire expert at forensic laboratory of the Sharjah Police, said they received samples immediately after the cooling operation was completed. “Investigation is under way to ascertain the cause of the fire and the findings will be released as soon as the probe is over.”
A police source said the house was overcrowded and sublet illegally. The tenants are a mix of families and bachelors from Pakistan. “The house had been sublet to many people who made partitions using cardboards, wood and other flammable materials.”
Elderly suffers heart attack
Sharing details of the incident, Akhtar Khan, a neighbour, said the gutted house consisted of a large number of small rooms, which were occupied by more than 60 people, including families and bachelors who work in different companies or run their own businesses.
He added that on Monday night, he heard loud screams from the house and rushed there. Khan saw tenants outside the apartment.
Among them was a 67-year-old man “who was begging people” to rescue his daughter and her son trapped inside the house. By this time, the police and firefighters arrived.
A few minutes later, a woman and her child were pulled out, but they had already died due to burns and suffocation. The father, on learning about his daughter’s death, suffered a heart attack and collapsed at the scene of the accident. He was rushed to the hospital.
The civil defence teams immediately evacuated all residents of the villa and neighbouring houses in the area as well.
The deceased had another child, aged nine, who had travelled with his father to his home country. Another neighbour hailing from Sri Lanka said she heard “loud explosions” and feared that the fire may spread to her home.
“My husband and I rushed out with our two children. The police then came and evacuated the entire building to prevent tenants from suffocating due to thick smoke, which spread to the entire area. Despite the police effort, some of the people were affected and started coughing after inhaling smoke. My husband suffers from asthma and was rushed to the hospital,” she said.
Safir, an Indian neighbour, said he saw the victim parking her car in front of the house as usual after returning from her work in Dubai.
The house had been sublet to many people who made partitions using cardboards, wood and flammable materials.”
Sharjah Police official