Sharjah: A 28-year-old Syrian woman appeared at the window of her eighth-floor apartment with her two small sons on Wednesday afternoon as a fire engulfed her apartment behind the Mega Mall.
A police official said that witnesses said the woman was panicking and wanted someone to catch her children, A.B., three, and A.S.B.,five. People at the scene were trying to calm the woman down. The woman later said she was holding her sons at the window so they wouldn’t breathe in smoke.
The woman, identified as H.A., told police she was asleep when she suddenly woke up and realised something was wrong.
She rushed from her bed to open the door and saw black smoke engulfing her living room. She took her sons and put them next to the window so they could breathe clean air.
It is believed the fire started with the television and then damaged the entire living room.
It took 45 minutes for firefighters to bring the blaze under control. The building was evacuated by the civil defence team to ensure the safety of all residents.
The woman and her two sons were taken to Al Qasimi Hospital at 3pm suffering from smoke inhalation.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation and forensic experts will examine the scene.
Brigadier Abdullah Al Suwaidi, Director-General of Sharjah Civil Defence, told Gulf News that the Civil Defence operations room received a call at 2pm saying that a fire had broken out in an apartment behind Mega Mall and a mother with her two sons were at the window seeking help.
Another Arab man sustained minor injuries while he was trying to help the mother and children out of the apartment.
