JEDDAH: A couple and three children died when a fire engulfed a two-bedroom apartment in a three-story building in south Jeddah on Saturday.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained Col. Saeed Farhan, spokesman of Makkah Civil Defense, was quoted as saying by local media on Sunday.

He said all the five died due to suffocation, he said. “All angles, including criminal wrongdoing, are being investigated,” he said.

Farhan said the Jeddah operations room received a call at 9 a.m. on Saturday that smoke was coming out of the building. “Information was immediately circulated among the Saudi Red Crescent, police patrols, fire engines and the electricity company.”

Emergency teams were sent to the scene immediately and evacuation operation ordered that sought to put out the fire in the flat and kitchen,” he said.

“The teams had to break into the flat to rescue the occupants but there was dense smoke and scorching heat inside.