Sharjah: The burnt remains of a worker were recovered by police on Tuesday following a fire that broke out at a warehouse in Industrial Area 13 on Monday night.
A firefighter was also injured in the blaze that gutted 18 warehouses and two stores.
The fire destroyed warehouses containing auto spare parts, metal and aluminium equipment, furniture, clothes and storerooms containing perfume and oil.
The fire erupted at around 8.40pm.
Sharjah Police are investigating the incident. The injured firefighter has been hospitalised.
“The intensity of the fire was very strong because the materials being burnt were extremely flammable,” Colonel Khalid Obaid, acting director-general of Sharjah Civil Defence, said.
“The fire broke out at one warehouses and spread to the adjacent warehouses and stores but the exact cause has not been established until we carry out an investigation. We were able to get the fire under control in six hours.”
Fire crews battled the flames late into the night. Sharjah Police sealed off roads leading to the warehouses, allowing only emergency services such as firefighters and ambulances to pass.
Workers in nearby premises were evacuated to safety as the fire started to spread, said officials. There had been initial accounts of labourers running out onto the streets as the flames spread.
Col Obaid said that a fire engine was dispatched to the scene as soon as the blaze was reported.
Firefighters from civil defence headquarters and Dubai and Ajman participated in the operations.
Rashid Al Omrani, Attorney-General of Sharjah Prosecution, told Gulf News that they sent a prosecutor to the site to investigate after they received a report saying the remains of a worker had been found in one of the gutted warehouses during the cooling operation.
