RIYADH, 30 October 2007 — Four members of an Egyptian family died when a fire broke out at their house in the Umm Al-Hamam district of Riyadh yesterday.
The dead included a man and wife and their two daughters. The couple’s third daughter, who was at school when the blaze took place, survived.
According to Civil Defense officials, the fire broke out at 10.36 a.m. and was reported by a passerby, who saw flames coming from the building.
“The victims died from suffocation,” Civil Defense spokesman Capt. Abdullah Al-Naqqadi told Arab News. The official said the cause of the fire was still being investigated.
Seven Civil Defense vehicles, as well as a paramedic team, took part in rescue efforts. “It is believed that the fire started in an extension that was built under an iron roof and spread to other rooms,” Al-Naqqadi said, adding that the roof of the extension collapsed on account of the fire.
The official said the Civil Defense had warned citizens against building additional rooms without prior permission from the municipality.
“Unauthorized extensions are usually built without consideration of emergency precautions. They generally lack emergency exits and ventilation,” he said, adding that they are often blamed for fatalities in fire accidents.
The Civil Defense official urged citizens and residents to take necessary precautions such as installing smoke detectors at homes.
He also warned of the consequences of smoke inhalation, which can kill people within four minutes.
There has recently been a spate of fires in residential homes and at stores in the capital. A huge fire destroyed two shopping areas in downtown Al-Batha last month causing damage worth millions of riyals.
According to local reports, some 300 shops were either gutted, or were forced to shut down due to infrastructure damage. Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman has assigned a special committee to prepare a report on the damages to shop owners affected by the fire.
