8 children among 10 killed in Oman fire

muscat — Police in Oman say 10 members of a family, including eight children, have died after suffocating in a fire at their home in the sultanate.

The Royal Oman Police said on Twitter on Thursday that the fire happened at a home in the village of Khor Al Hamam in the country’s Saham region.

Omani civil defence officials say firefighters found the dead after responding to the fire in the village, some 165km northwest of Muscat. The village sits along the coast with the Gulf of Oman. Both police and civil defence officials say the family suffocated in the smoke from the fire.

The police have asked families in the country to install smoke detectors in their homes.

According to Saham Hospital, the ages of the diseased were between 1 and 49.

“They were all brothers and sisters aged 1, 2, 5, 8, 12, 13, 15 and 18, in addition to the parents. Two siblings remain, one of whom is now at the hospital. These two were in colleges and were called in later,” an official from Saham Hospital said.

The mother was 40, and the father was 49 years old.

The official added, “We received the bodies in Saham Hospital around 5am. Cause of death was suffocation for ten individuals. Most were children, the sons and daughters of a 40 and 49 year old mother and father.”