DAMMAM: Two children were killed and eight injured when a fire engulfed a residential flat in an eight-story building on Dahran Street in Dammam on Tuesday, local media reported.

Col. Mansour Al-Dousari, Civil Defense spokesman in the Eastern Province, said their operations room received a call at 5.11 a.m. about a fire in an eight-story building.

He said the fire was contained in the living room and another room in the flat on the seventh floor. Around 200 residents of the building were evacuated and the fire was brought under control.

Al-Dousari said a six-year-old boy died at the site and a 12-year-old died in hospital. “Their 45-year-old father suffered 11 percent burns and his 36-year-old wife was also injured. The others who were injured were the couple’s 14-year-old and three-year-old daughters. They were taken to the Dammam Central Hospital.”

Al Doussari said five Civil Defense and four rescue teams and two ladder cars went to the scene of the fire and investigation is under way.

Fahd Al-Ghamdi, spokesman of the Eastern Province Red Crescent, said it too received a call at 5.17 a.m. about the fire. He urged people not to move the injured in such situations because the same needs to be done by skilled cadres.