- MAKKAH: Two Egyptian workers choked to death after inhaling toxic plumes from a fire in a furniture workshop on Haj Street behind the Dawas market in Makkah.
Five Civil Defense teams worked Thursday morning to prevent the fire from spreading to more than 50 nearby workshops. The two dead men were the only people inside the workshop at the time of the fire.
According to spokesman of the police Brig. Gen. Ali Al-Muntasheri, gallons of paint and other inflammable substances kept at the entrance of the workshop exacerbated the intensity of the fire and the toxicity of the smoke. The cause of the fire was still being investigated.
