Naif villa fire survivors face uphill battle

Dubai: Like any other morning Suresh Kumar, a 25-year-old tile fixer, was making paratha (Indian bread) together with another roommate when Tuesday's Naif blaze broke out.

Kumar, who has lived in the townhouse for almost a year, is one of the survivors of the fire that claimed 11 lives. According to him, the house had 45 rooms.

“I lived in room number 22 on the second floor together with 14 other people,'' said Kumar who pays Dh300 per month in rent.

“On the tenth day of every month an agent used to come to the building to collect the rent.''

The building, which is occupied by bachelors, not only had partitions that were not licensed by Dubai Municipality, but the entire second floor of the townhouse was built without approval.

This together with overcrowding aggravated the fire situation.

Kumar said he was forced to live in a crowded room because he could not afford anything else due to the skyrocketing rents of Dubai and when asked if the tenants had received warnings from the municipality concerning the violations he said: “I have a feeling that the agents might have got them and never notified us about them.''

Police have detained four people including the property owner, real estate broker and two leaseholders who will be referred to the Public Prosecution in the next couple of days, according to Brigadier Abdul Jalil Mahdi, Deputy Director of Dubai Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for Preventative Security.

Kumar was one of the few tenants who was awake when the fire broke out, he said.

“It was almost five o'clock and I was rolling the bread and giving it to my roommate to bake when I saw flames on the first floor as furniture was catching fire,'' said Kumar recalling that he did not hear any explosions before he saw the fire.

“Before I even had time to realise what was happening I heard horrific screams and people started running in all directions in an effort to take refuge from the flames that were spreading very quickly,'' he said.

He cannot remember how he got out of the house.

The only memory he has of that tragic day is how he feared he might lose his life.

Kumar, who has lived five years in the UAE away from his wife, lost all his belongings in the fire, his humble Dh1,500 savings, passport and his very few clothes.

More importantly, he has become homeless. “We are not allowed to enter the house as investigations are underway so I have been sleeping at my friends' house for two days.''

A senior official from Dewa yesterday confirmed that the electricity supply to the burnt-out house in Naif was illegal. Mohammad Salem Al Mana'a, senior manager of billing services, said the municipality should follow up illegal connections and not Dewa.