MAKKAH, 6 May 2003 — A fire at a girls’ secondary school in the Holy City’s Nuzha district on Saturday revived bad memories of last year’s blaze at another school in the city that killed 13 girls.
The fire at the 26th Girls Secondary School broke out at 9.49 a.m. and injured four girls. There were 500 students at the school at the time and the four students sustained injuries while they were rushing out of the building. The injured were taken to hospital in Red Crescent ambulance vans.
Officers of the Civil Defense and Saudi Red Crescent Society took part in the operation. According to one report, the fire spread from burning books in a toilet on the second floor. Students rushed to the exit doors soon after seeing the flames.
Col. Ayed Al-Mehmadi, assistant director of the Civil Defense Department in Makkah, told Al-Nadwa newspaper, that his officers put out the fire quickly. The real cause of the fire remains unknown. Some teachers and students said that it might have happened because of an electrical short-circuit resulting from poor maintenance.
However, Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Agla, general president of female education in Makkah, denied that poor maintenance was the reason as there were no technical defects or a breakdown in the heating system, and said the circumstances of the fire led to suspicions of arson.
