MAKKAH, 14 March — Humaid Al-Hadly, the guard of the fire-ravaged Makkah school, has refuted allegations that he had left the school premises after locking its gate, thus hampering rescue operations.
“This is totally false. I had kept the gate open as per the instructions of the school director,” he told Arab News.
Hadly, who is over 60, said Muneera Fadl ur-Rahman, the school director, informed him that a fire that had broken out on the top floor of the building.
“She told me to open all the gates of the school to help the girls and teachers get out as quickly as possible. I responded by unlocking them all. I also turned off the electricity supply,” he said.
He said more than 250 students had got out of the building before Civil Defense rescue workers arrived at the scene. The girls then found shelter in a nearby building and at a local woman’s house, he pointed out.
Hadly says he took part in the rescue operation, along with Civil Defense officers. He criticized the problems created by the alleged members of the Commission for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, which hampered rescue efforts.
“I joined this school as a guard at the beginning of the present academic year. I have not worked at any school before I came here from the village,” Hadly said.
