4 Indians among 16 killed in Dubai building fire

Dubai : At least four Indians, including a couple from Kerala, were among the 16 victims of a fire that engulfed a residential building in Dubai's old neighbourhood of Al Ras on Saturday. Nine people were injured, and the blaze took two hours to extinguish. Teams from three fire stations were involved. The Dubai Civil Defence said that an inadequate number of safety requirements might have contributed to the tragedy, and that a comprehensive investigation was being carried out to establish the causes of the fire.

The massive fire broke out on the fourth floor of the building and began spreading to other areas. A team from the Dubai Civil Defence headquarters arrived at the site of the blaze and began evacuating residents in the building. Teams from the Port Saeed Fire Station and the Hamriyah Fire Station were also summoned. The flames were doused by 2:42 pm. Quoting Naseer Vatanappally, an Indian social worker who was at the Dubai Police mortuary, Gulf News reported that four Indians, including a couple from Kerala, have been identified among the victims. "So far, we have managed to identify 4 Indians, including a couple from Kerala and two men from Tamil Nadu who worked at the building, 3 Pakistani cousins and a Nigerian woman," Vatanappally said.