An inferno tearing through his building left Mohammad Irfan Mustafa in shock as he returned from a work trip to Oman early yesterday morning. The Pakistani national had taken up an apartment in the building fairly recently.

Speaking to Gulf News hours after the incident, Mustafa, 38, said: “My mind is still not working right now.”

Fortunately for Mustafa, his wife and three children had been staying at his sister-in-law’s place on the night of the fire. He said he still had a family to come home to but he wasn’t so sure about the fate of his possessions accrued after years of toil in Oman, including important documents, that were inside his home.

“We moved to this flat just two months back. My family arrived on April 2nd. I bought everything new — appliances and furniture — which cost me more than Dh30,000,” Mustafa said.

“We lost everything. I had a huge amount of cash, our life savings, inside our flat. All my family’s passports and documents and our gold were inside that flat.”

Mustafa, the tenant of flat 708, said it puzzled him why it had taken the authorities time to start putting out the blaze.

“I arrived at 2:25 am from the airport and the fire was not that huge yet. The civil defence was there, police were there but I don’t know why it took them time to act. Because of the time that was wasted, within half an hour the fire went from the first floor up to the 31st floor,” the marketing manager said.

“Until now I do not know what the authorities’ strategy was. Their action took time and they started dousing the fire very late.”

Asked what his next plan was, Mustafa, who had sought temporary shelter at Al Nahda Park, said: “I still have no idea where we will go.”

Other tenants of the building shared Mustafa’s sentiment. Scores of families, including children, were also sharing tents put up in the park yesterday. They said they had been there since the morning and they had no idea where they would go next.

“It’s hot in the park. It’s even hotter inside the tents. Good thing the Lulu Hypermarket is nearby. Most of the time we’d go there or go around the park. But we don’t know what will happen tonight. We don’t have any belongings, no accommodation,” a resident who requested anonymity said.