Sharjah: Two Asian men died of suffocation and five others were injured in a massive fire that broke out in a supermarket in Sharjah on Friday night.
The fire gutted Al Manama Supermarket, operating from the ground and first floors of the 19-storey building on Al Arouba Street in Rolla.
“The fire broke out in Al Manama Supermarket on Friday at 11.32pm, said Colonel Sami Khamis Al Naqabi, director-general of Sharjah Civil Defence.
The 19-storey building [four floors of parking and 15 residential floors] was evacuated and the police cordoned off the area.
A total of 210 families from different nationalities live in the building and all of them were declared safe.
The Civil Defence cut the power supply to the building and residents were asked to move away their vehicles parked near the building.
Sharjah Police closed the road leading to the building and diverted traffic to ease the work of firefighters
Sharia Civil Defence led the operations to contain the fire and it was brought under control by early morning.
Dr Eisa Al Moa’almi, head of the emergency department at Kuwaiti Hospital, told Gulf News that the hospital received after midnight two bodies of men who died in the fire as a result of smoke inhalation.
The deceased were identified as D.K., 32, from Bangladesh and M.A., 27, from India.
The hospital also received four men and a one woman who suffered smoke inhalation.
They were identified as A.M., 25, M.Sh., 27, M.K., 27, A.H., 29, and Sh.R., 49.
Two of them were discharged on Saturday morning while the others are still under observation but their condition is stable, Dr Al Moa’almi said.
At the time of the incident, there were 82 people inside Al Manama Supermarket, a security man told Gulf News
“There was a lot of smoke in the hallway, we couldn’t see but managed to get to the stairs and went out of the building safely,” said a 50-year-old Indian resident, Shaikh Rashid Ahmad.
The building’s watchman, Lambadri, told Gulf News that the elevators were shut down and power and gas services disconnected for safety.
“Electricity and gas supply was cut off to the building until 7am on Saturday.” he said.
Ahmad Mahgob from Sudan said he thought it was a false alarm. “The fire alarm would always go off so we didn’t take it seriously. But when I opened the door, I saw smoke,” the father of two said. “I immediately grabbed my kids and ran out of the building.”
The watchman said some residents were out and received the new of the fire over phone from their friends and relatives.
A police and forensic investigation is on to determine the cause of the fire.
