Pictures: Fire breaks out at Sharjah factory

Sharjah: A massive fire broke out at the Enpi Group's Citi Pak factory in Sharjah's industrial area early on Monday.

Firefighters from Sharjah, Dubai, Ajman as well as crew from Sharjah Municipality brought in water tankers to valiantly battle the flames for well over 12 hours.

Police cordoned off the scene of the incident to ease the work of Civil Defence team.

Brig. Abdullah Al Suwaidi, Director-General of Sharjah Civil Defence Department, told Gulf News that the fire broke out in Sharjah's Industrial Area 11 at about 3.30am.

Motorists heading towards Sharjah reported seeing thick black plumes of smoke billowing from the ill-fated factory.

Traffic jams were also reported in the area as motorists slowed down to watch the fire.

The early morning fire reportedly broke out in a plastics factory near National Paints. Firefighters battled the blaze to prevent it from spreading to adjacent buildings.

More details from Sharjah Civil Defence are expected soon.

Brig. Al Suwaidi described the fire as "fierce" the factory contained flammable materials, but did not elaborate.

It was not immediately what is the extent of the damage.

Firefighters battled the flames till early evening on Monday, and cooling operations were still going on at 9pm. 

The Civil Defence team is expected to hand over the site to the police after the fire has been completely put out for forensic investigation.

Pictures by Arshad Ali.