Thirty-six people were rescued from a burning building in Jeddah’s Al-Safa District on Sunday.

“The fire broke out in the afternoon inside a four-floor, 18-apartment building,” said Col. Saeed Sarhan, Civil Defense spokesman in the Makkah region.

“Firefighters and rescue teams were immediately dispatched to the scene with extensive equipment.”

“Women, children and old men were evacuated from the building via ladders as smoke engulfed the site, while firefighting teams traced the source of the fire to the second floor and immediately doused the flames.”

“Five of the building’s 36 residents were injured,” he said. “Red Crescent teams treated two children on the spot and no one has been transferred to hospital since urgent medical treatment was provided at the scene.”

Civil Defense Director Col. Ghazi Al-Ghamdi and Col. Abdul Aziz Al-Aiban, operations division director, are supervising an investigation into the cause of the fire.