UAE | Crime
Woman chokes to death after blaze in apartment
A woman died of suffocation after a massive fire broke out in an apartment on Monday night.
- By Alia Al Theeb and Leslie Wilson Jr.Staff Reporters
- Published: 23:12 July 31, 2007
- The fire broke out on the seventh floor of the residential building, Blue Glass, located on Al Rolla Road in Bur Dubai.
- Image Credit: Hadrian Hernandez/Gulf News
Dubai: A woman died of suffocation after a massive fire broke out in an apartment on Monday night.
The fire broke out on the seventh floor of the residential building, Blue Glass, located on Al Rolla Road in Bur Dubai. The fire caused dense smoke due to which the entire building was evacuated.
Dubai Civil Defence said the victim died in the hospital, while they rescued five other women who were with the victim. The fire broke out in a room of flat 704 next to the balcony, but the reason is still unknown.
A Civil Defence spokesperson said an expert from Dubai Police will determine the cause of the fire.
He said putting out the fire took around 128 minutes, as the building's confined nature made it difficult to reach the source of the fire.
Thick smoke
The spokesperson said the five women who were rescued were in the apartment adjacent to the one that was on fire. He said civil defence tried to use the ladder to get them down, but the women were scared.
"Civil defence sent a rescuer to the women and equipment were brought to clear the smoke from the corridor after which the women were brought down from the inside of the building," he added.
The spokesperson said civil defence had received the fire report at 8.59pm and fire engines from Al Satwa and Al Karama centres arrived to the scene immediately.
A man who lives in a nearby flat said he was the first one to notice the fire.
He told Gulf News when he went to the corridor, he saw smoke coming out from under the door of flat 704. He screamed to the watchman and dialled 999. After that, he started kicking the door to open it.
"After a few kicks, the door opened and a huge cloud of smoke came out from the room and a woman fell on me. I took her to my apartment. I wanted to come back to the apartment, but it was difficult, as smoke had engulfed the entire corridor," he said.
One of the trapped women said: "I thought it was the end. I may have made 1,000 calls to my neighbour to rescue me despite the fact that police were comforting me until they rescued me."
Many tenants from the building claimed that no fire alarm went off when the fire broke out. They said they started coming out of their apartments after hearing people screaming and shouting.
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