FIVE KIDS AMONG 8 DEAD IN ABU DHABI VILLA FIRE
abu dhabi — Five children were among eight of a family who were killed as a fire tore through their villa in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. Three women aged 38, 37 and 21, and three girls and two boys aged between one and eight years are believed to have died of suffocation.
There were 12 people in the two-storey villa in Bani Yas when the fire broke out on the ground floor during the Fajr prayer. Only four of them managed to escape and are currently hospitalised, relatives said. In an audio clip posted on social media after the incident, the devastated villa owner, Ali Badawi Al Kotheri, can be heard saying: “Eight people died in our home this morning, including my two daughters.”
Outside the villa on Tuesday, a relative told Khaleej Times: “There are no children left in our family. These were the last ones.”
abu dhabi — Six empty swings hang next to a villa in Bani Yas as a grim reminder of the horrific tragedy that struck the family that lived there.
The chirpy laughter of five young Emirati children, who used to play here, will not be heard anymore as a fire that broke out in their home early Tuesday morning took their lives, along with three other family members.
“There are no children left in our family. These were the last ones,” a heartbroken relative told Khaleej
Times. “These swings belonged to them, but what can I say, this is God’s will.”
The victims included three women aged 38, 37 and 21. The children — three girls and two boys — were aged between one and eight. All of them died from suffocation, the relatives told Khaleej Times.
There were 12 people in the house when the fire broke out; four escaped and are currently being treated in the hospital.
Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire.
“We are all under a state of shock. I am heartbroken for the children, they are gone too soon and had their whole lives ahead of them,” said another relative, who did not want to be named.
He said that the Abu Dhabi Police and the civil defence arrived immediately at the scene of the fire in the early hours of the morning.
One family member who witnessed the fire said: “All I could see was smoke. A lot of black smoke.”
“It happened during Fajr prayers and everyone was sleeping. But many of the relatives and neighbours woke up and tried to save the family.”
The relatives said they suspect electric short circuit could have caused the fire, which broke out in the ground floor, inside the living area. The members of the family were still asleep upstairs in the villa, which was two storeys high.
“They all died from suffocation from the smoke, no one was burnt, they were not disfigured, thank God. “My cousin’s wife was also in the house, but she made it out alive, although two of her daughters died. She is currently in the hospital,” he added.
After the fire broke out, a short audio-clip spread on social media across the country, where the home owner, Ali Badawi Al Kotheri, narrated the details of the heartbreaking scene.
“Eight people died in our home this morning, including my two daughters,” said Al Kotheri.
The burial took place on Tuesday after Maghrib prayers at the Bani Yas Graveyard. Hundreds of community members attended the burial.
Condolences from people across the UAE poured over social media, with heartfelt messages to the families of the victims.
We are all under a state of shock. I am heartbroken for the children, they are gone too soon and had their whole lives ahead of them.”
A relative
It happened during Fajr prayers and everyone was sleeping. But many of the relatives and neighbours woke up and tried to save the family.”
A relative