JEDDAH, 1 June 2008 — Fire swept through a villa in a housing complex in Jeddah for Saudi security forces early yesterday killing five people and injuring three others, officials said.
“Five family members died and three others suffered minor injuries as a result of the fire. The injured are currently being treated at a local hospital,” said Civil Defense spokesman Capt. Abdullah Al-Amri.
Flames broke out on the first floor of the two-story villa inside a housing compound located on Prince Miteb Street in Jeddah’s Marwah district shortly after midnight.
Al-Amri identified the dead as members of the same family. Abdulrahman Al-Shihri managed to escape, but his father Mohammed, 99, his wife Sarah, 44, and his children Ali, 12, Abdulaziz, 10, and Ahlam, 5, were trapped by the flames and killed.
Mohammed’s badly burned body was found on the ground floor and the rest of the bodies were found upstairs where they apparently suffocated. Three others were seen being taken away in an ambulance.
According to the Civil Defense, the door to the roof of the villa was locked and this might have resulted in the suffocation of the four family members. “We are holding an investigation,” said Al-Amri.
