'The fire was treated as a disaster'

Dubai: The fire was treated as a disaster, a senior police official said yesterday.

There were about 350 workers in the 34-storey tower when the fire broke out.

Most of them were trapped in the top four or five storeys.

The fire broke out near the 30th floor and spread upwards.

There were about 50 workers who could not escape to the lower floors. Some were overcome by sense smoke and others were injured while trying to escape.

The workers managed to climb to the roof after they failed to reach the lower floors.

Helicopters from Dubai Police Air Wing dropped rescuers and paramedic teams onto the rooftop. Paramedics treated the injured workers and other rescuers saved the workers by leading them down the stairs.

Brigadier Dr Jamal Al Merri, Deputy Commander of Dubai Police, said: "All rescue teams, including police and Civil Defence and paramedic teams, took all precautionary measures and treated the fire as a crisis."

He said the rescue teams joined forces and exerted tremendous efforts and "our personnel risked their lives" to save the endangered workers.

The fire, which started at about 12.30pm, was brought under control in about an hour and a quarter.

The Dubai Civil Defence's special team which is trained to cope with high-rise building fires and rescuing trapped people, participated in the rescue of tens of trapped workers.

A member of the special team told Gulf News that six specially equipped rescuers made their way up the stairs to evacuate the workers.

"After we finished our rescue operation, another Civil Defence team scoured the building to see whether there were any workers, left," said the official.

Al Merri said the investigations, which started yesterday, will reveal the cause of the fire. He said he does not exclude a short-circuit, worker negligence or even smoking.

"Each authority, within its jurisdiction, will investigate the real cause of the fire," he said.

The injuries varied from minor to medium and serious.

There were four serious injuries, 26 moderate and 18 minor injuries. Many were treated at the accident site while others were taken to hospital.