Dubai: Emirati twin sisters died in a fire that broke out in a villa in Al Twar area on Tuesday morning, Dubai Civil Defence said.
The 20-year-old sisters died as a result of suffocation by smoke caused by the fire.
“A baby girl and a housemaid were also injured in the fire,” a Dubai Civil Defence official said.
The fire broke out in the villa at Al Twar 3 in Al Ghusais area of Dubai at 10.47am, and the Civil Defence teams arrived at 10.52am.
According to officials, the twins were asleep with the maid and the baby inside a one-bedroom section attached to the main villa which belonged to the sisters’ uncle.
The fire was first noticed by the maid who spotted flames inside the air-conditioner’s wiring. She tried to wake up the sisters but when they did not immediately respond [to her cries], she carried the six-month-old baby girl outside.
“The two girls woke up later but were trapped inside because the blaze by then had blocked the way to the room’s exit. The girls couldn’t escape through the windows as it was secured with iron bars. They hid in the bathroom as the main door was blocked and got suffocated by the smoke,” a Civil Defence official told Gulf News.
“It was a small fire but the result was tragic for the two sisters. The place had no safety measures and there was only one exit,” he said.
Though the Civil Defence personnel arrived at the site within minutes, the fire had been blazing for sometime before they were alerted.
“The firefighters went inside to extricate the sisters and found them in the bathroom, in an unconscious state. Despite the paramedics’ effort to save them, they passed away,” the official added.
The firefighters carried out the cooling operation before handing over the site to the police for investigation.
