Sharjah: Families most affected by the blaze in the B wing of 23-storey Al Bandary Twin Towers on Al Ittihad Road have moved into alternative accommodation in the identical-looking Bandary Tower A next door, which is made up of fully-furnished hotel apartments.
For the residents who stayed back, life is mostly back to normal — except that two of the building’s three lifts have since stopped working, they said.
When the fire started, 120 families were evacuated, and were asked to not go back to their homes until around 8pm. Building staff handed out water and sandwiches to anxious residents who chose to wait near the tower.
But residents who have stayed back in their apartments felt things could have been better handled by the building management.
Adnan, an Indian expat who lives with his family of nine on the third floor said had his apartment been hit by the blaze, it would have been a grim situation. “All our money and everything was inside the apartment.” said Adnan.
Ali, a Pakistani expatriate and resident of the building, said, “It’s a big building. They should have good management and security.”
The fire broke out on the 13th floor of Al Bandary Twin Towers B and quickly spread to some of the upper floors. It was brought under control in 75 minutes after Sharjah Civil Defence received the first alert at 11.58am on Thursday. The building is mainly occupied by families.
No injuries were reported, although four people were treated for smoke inhalation.
“The fire alarm went off at 11am. We were still sleeping,” said K. Abbas Ali, an Indian expat who lives on the 15th floor with his family of five.
While just two floors above the blaze, Ali’s three-bedroom flat is on the other side of the building.
Residents told Gulf News that because the fire alarms frequently go off in the building — due to cooking and incense burning — they did not know the building was on fire. Others heard nothing until later on.
“We only knew about the fire when we saw it,” said Eilaf B., a Sudanese expat. She lives with her family of seven on the ninth floor — and on the same side where the fire broke out.
“A lot of residents were inside their apartments without knowing that there was a fire,” she added. But when she and her sister saw burning debris fall down the side of the building — and bystanders below looking up at the tower — they grabbed their valuables and left.
“Once we went downstairs, that’s when the fire alarm went off.”
Eilaf and her family spent Thursday night at a friend’s house and returned on Friday. The smell of smoke is still in the air, she said as she got down to cleaning up the slight water damage in one of the bedrooms.
“We’re planning to stay in the apartment, but we are a little worried,” she said.
