Dubai: Tenants of the fire-damaged Al Shamsi Building in Deira were allowed to enter their homes on Wednesday to salvage their belongings.
However, civil defence had to close the building again after a few hours citing safety reasons.
Two days after a major fire gutted the five-storey residential building on Salah Al Deen Street, residents finally saw the extent of damage to their apartments on Wednesday.
Some 24 units were burnt while the remaining 24 flats were indirectly affected. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
“Nothing’s left … it’s all in ashes,” a Filipina said as she showed pictures on her mobile phone to her roommates. “I tried to check if there’s anything I could save — there’s none,” she said in tears.
Bangladeshi expatriate Faruk Chokder, 26, said he was able to save about 50 per cent of his belongings, including his important documents. His apartment in Block A only had smoke damage.
“I don’t need all those things anyway. So long as I have my passport, I’m fine because I’m going on vacation next week,” Chokder told Gulf News.
A knapsack on his back and two black trash bags full of personal belongings in both hands, Allan Bitangcol scurried to the parking space where other residents were waiting.
The assistant quantity surveyor breathed a sigh of relief seeing that his flat was fine and only the glass doors had been smashed.
“We were given a few minutes to get most of our things out. We have three fish in our aquarium and, surprisingly, they’re still alive. But because it was dark inside, I couldn’t take them out for fear of tripping.”
Not all residents were lucky enough to enter their apartments, however.
At around 12.30pm, onsite civil defence officials locked down the building because the roof of the third and fourth storeys were unstable and could have caved in.
