JEDDAH, 2 September — A massive fire destroyed Abdul Latif Jameel Company’s new warehouse for auto spare parts in Khamra yesterday, causing an estimated SR200 million in losses.
Authorities are probing what caused the blaze, which occurred a few hours after the company’s top executives held a meeting at the warehouse’s headquarters to discuss arrangements for its opening on Tuesday.
Col. Mohammed Al-Qarni, director general of Civil Defense in Jeddah, said the fire did not cause any casualties.
“It was a big fire that destroyed everything inside the warehouse,” a witness told Arab News. It took firemen more than four hours to extinguish.
Civil Defense sent 12 fire tenders as well as a helicopter to bring the blaze under control. “Our firemen controlled the blaze before it reached a nearby warehouse for new cars,” Al-Qarni said.
The fire-hit warehouse is the company’s largest in the region and covers an area of 32,000 sq.m.
Fire accidents in the Kingdom have eaten away billions of riyal worth of properties over the past few years.
