RIYADH, 1 November 2007 — Maryam did not know that this would be the last time she would be laying eyes on her mother, father, baby sister and little brother when she left for school on Monday morning.

The nine-year-old was at school that fatal Monday when a fire gutted her family’s home in the Um Al-Hammam district of the capital, taking everything and everyone dear to her.

The little girl smiled innocently while extending her right hand to greet me when she came to Arab News’ Riyadh office, accompanied by relatives. “We have not told her the bad news yet,” her uncle, Muhammad Shuraidi said. “We told her that her parents ate something bad and were hospitalized. They had to travel to Egypt for medical reasons and they are with Tata (grandma) there.”

“She is too fragile to handle the news at this stage,” he said, adding that when he learned of the the incident, he asked a family friend to keep the little girl in their care until he arrives, so she could be far away from the burning house.

Recalling what happened on the day of the fire, Shuraidi said he received a call on his mobile that his brother’s apartment in Um Al-Hammam was on fire. “I was near exit 14 when I got the call,” he said. “It completely shook me. I drove like a maniac along King Fahd Road, zigzagging between lanes to get to the location as soon as possible.”

When he got there, he saw Civil Defense units, police, an ambulance and people from the neighborhood surrounding the building. The fire had begun to die down with firefighters extinguishing flames. As he tried to go upstairs, Civil Defense officers prevented him, saying that his brother, sister-in-law and their children had been taken to hospital for treatment.

But he was sure they were still up there. Curiosity and anxiety were ripping him apart. The persistence to go up and see what had happened to the family continued when neighbors told him that no family members had left the scene in an ambulance. “Bring him water and anything he needs, but don’t let him go up the house,” a senior Civil Defense officer ordered the other officers.

The officer later approached him and asked quietly, “Do you believe in fate?” Shuraidi replied yes. “Then I regret to inform you that your brother, his wife and two of their children died in the fire,” the officer said, trying to comfort Shuraidi as he broke down.

Maryam’s father, Muhab Shuraidi, a sales representative, had been living in the Kingdom for the past 12 years.

Ibtisam, her middle-aged mother, had memorized the entire Qur’an after joining the ladies branch of the Holy Qur’an Memorization School. Coming from a devout Egyptian family, her dream before she married Muhab was to live in Saudi Arabia, the land of Islam.

Ibtisam was caring for her two-year-old baby daughter when the fire broke out. Muhab had just dropped off Maryam to school and decided to check up on his wife and daughter before going back to work.

“Civil Defense authorities not only handled the situation well, but they broke the news to me in a very professional way bearing in mind the psychological impact it would have on me,” said Shuraidi.

The officers told Shuraidi that they found all four bodies in the kitchen area. The parents had broken the glass to escape the fire, but the smoke had got to them first. The fire spread to most of the apartment. And in rooms that it had not reached thick black smoke covered the walls. The Civil Defense is still investigating the cause of the fire.

The two adults were found dead on the floor, each of them holding one child close to them to protect them from the flames. All four victims had died from suffocation.

“He was a young man full of life and ambition and loved by everyone. I considered him to be my son. I raised him since he was the youngest in the family,” Shuraidi said. “Hundreds of people had attended the funeral. That is a sign that he was loved. I ask the Almighty to accept him and his family as martyrs,” he said.

Asked whether Maryam would be sent to Egypt to live with relatives, Shuraidi said he would take her in as one of his own. “I have three children. And now I have four with Maryam,” he said.