Muscat: Five-year-old Amjad Al Jahdami became an instant hero in Oman when he pulled his eight-year-old sister out of from their room which had caught on fire on Saturday, the Public Authority for Civil Defense and Ambulance said.
“When the fire engulfed their room, he woke up and went downstairs seeking help but no one was there except their grandmother who couldn’t go upstairs,” Mohammad Al Jahdami, the child’s uncle, told Gulf News.
Risking his own life, he went back upstairs to rescue his sister and carried her downstairs.
The fire completely gutted the children’s roomwhich, authorities say, was caused by an electrical fault.
“We are very proud of Amjad,” said the uncle.
Both children sustained minor burns but are in stable health.
Cases of fire occur every three hours in Oman and 23 per cent occur in residential areas, according to the National Centre for Information and Statistics (NCIS).
Most fire incidents are caused by faulty, counterfeit or ageing electrical items including cables, according to the PACDA.
In June 2015, a 22-year-old woman and her two-month-old baby daughter died in a fire that started in the kitchen in the North Mabala area of Seeb province.
The mother and baby were in a bedroom when the fire broke out.
Both died of smoke inhalation.
In 2013, an Omani family, including two children, died of smoke inhalation in a fire at their home in the capital Muscat.
