MAKKAH: Five people, including a pregnant woman and her three children, died yesterday morning in a fire at a house in Bahra, 40 km to the west of Makkah.
A police source told Arab News that all of the victims were Saudi nationals. The mother was identified as Sedran Subhi Al-Ammari, 46. She was seven months pregnant. Another three people suffered serious burns and are currently in hospital.
“Sedran’s three children — Saleh, 15, Muneera, 13, and Khaled, 8 — also died. The fifth victim was Sedran’s 40-year-old brother Shareef Subhi,” said Lt. Col. Ali Al-Muntashari, spokesman for the Makkah police.
“The brother and other relatives were at the house preparing for a wedding reception that was to be held later in the day,” he said. “Investigations are under way to find the exact cause of the fire,” said Al-Muntashari.
“The local rescue team could not enter the building because of intense heat and heavy smoke,” he said. “By the time rescuers reached them one was burned to death and four had suffocated due to the thick smoke.”
Another eight people were rescued; three of them were critical. The seriously injured were identified as Aedah Subhi Al-Ammari, 70, Nurah Meshari Al-Subhi and Saleh Subhi Al-Ammari, 60.
An eyewitness said the rescuers had to pull down a wall to enter the house in order to reach the occupants.
Saleh Subhi said he was injured while trying to rescue his old sister. He said he spent the previous night in the house overseeing wedding arrangements at a nearby hall. The fire broke out when he had gone to the wedding hall in the morning. “When I returned I found the house on fire and rushed inside,” he added.
Brig. Jameel Muhammad Arabaeen, director of the Civil Defense in Makkah, offered his condolences to the relatives of the bereaved and called on members of the public to install smoke detectors and fire-warning systems in their homes.
