Video: Fire hits residential building at upmarket district in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh

Cairo: A fire erupted at a residential building in a major business area in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the kingdom’s Saudi civil defence said.

The blaze that had hit the façade of the building in Al Olaya quarter left nine cars burnt, but caused no casualties, the service added on X, a platform formerly known as Twitter.

Firefighters later extinguished the fire, the civil defence said without giving a cause of the blaze.

A video circulating on social media showed a large fire allegedly at a hotel in Al Oalya, an upmarket district in Riyadh famous for its skyscrapers.

The footage showed plumes of thick smoke rising from the building.

Series of fires

In recent months, Saudi Arabia has seen several fires.

In August, a blaze broke out at a private hospital in Riyadh for the second time this year, but caused no casualties.

The blaze occurred in a building under construction at the medical facility in Riyadh’s Al Yasamin quarter.

The same hospital experienced another fire in June, according to Saudi media reports.

In May, authorities in the Saudi port city of Jeddah closed down a famous market, citing violations of safety standards, after Al Sawarikh Souq had seen two fires in less than two weeks.

Authorities have not said how long the closure continues.

On May 12, civil defence put out a fire at the market, saying the blaze did not result in casualties. The cause of the fire, which gutted an unspecified number of shops, was not given.

On May 21, another fire broke out at the market.

Set up in 1980, the souq, comprising 12,000 shops, was temporarily shut down as a precautionary measure during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Sawarikh, a Jeddah landmark, is believed to be the largest popular market in Saudi Arabia.

It stretches in south of Jeddah on around 1 million square metres, employing more than 20,000 workers.