Firefighters battled the blaze for more than two hours and managed to rescue seven members of the family. All of them have been hospitalized and are being treated for smoke inhalation, burns and other injuries.

Eastern Province Civil Defense chief Brig. Mansour Al-Dossary confirmed the deaths and described it as a terrible tragedy.

“We have not been able to ascertain the exact cause of the fire,” he told Arab News. “An inquiry has been ordered and we will get the full details in three or four days.”

According to Al-Dossary, it was “a very old house,” and like other traditional buildings in the area was largely made of wood.

“Firefighters were immediately pressed into service, but before they could douse the flames, eight members were dead,” he said. “Six were women and two men.”

Eastern Province Gov. Mohammed bin Fahd and Deputy Gov. Prince Jiluwi expressed their heartfelt condolences to members of the bereaved family.

“In this hour of tragedy our prayers are with the survivors,” they said in their condolence message. They ordered the relevant officers to extend all help to them and to conduct a thorough investigation in order to identify the cause of the fire.