Sharjah residents have told how a fire, in which five people were killed and 19 injured, started suddenly and without warning at their high-rise apartment block, leaving many scrambling for safety.
Mohammed Al Hassan, 25, a Sudanese resident who lives on the 42nd floor where the fire reportedly started, said the blaze broke out in a flat near his own on Sunday. The name of the building or the area in which the fire broke out has not been released.
“We only realised something was wrong when thick smoke started pouring into the apartment, it became so dark we couldn’t see anything,” Mr Al Hassan said. “We heard screaming so we rushed out of the apartment. It was nearly impossible to use the stairs or the lift, so we decided to head to the rooftop and stayed there for about two hours.”
He said some people attempted to escape by climbing ropes that had been used for building maintenance and that the 42nd floor remains sealed off. “All my things are still inside, including my money. I spent the night in the building’s corridor and entrance.”
Khabbab Hussain, also from Sudan and a resident of the 42nd floor, said he became aware of the fire after noise from some of his neighbours. “I heard people shouting and then saw the smoke,” he said. “Like some others from the same floor, I went up to the rooftop to escape.”
Evacuation efforts
He said it did not take long for emergency services to arrive. “Civil defence arrived quickly and immediately began evacuating everyone, helping the elderly, those who were tired and those who were too frightened to move,” he said.
Mr Hussain remained on the rooftop until about 4pm, when authorities confirmed the area and building were secure.
Sheriff Suluku, from Sierra Leone, works at a supermarket opposite the building and was asleep at the time. “I woke up when I heard people screaming from the building,” he said. “I looked out the window and saw residents shouting and crying.”
He quickly left his apartment and went to the supermarket, where he witnessed the panic up-close. “Many people from the building came running out, some were crying, some were shouting,” he said.
Civil defence personnel in the emirate responded to the blaze in the upper floors of the residential tower on Sunday morning, officials said. Once fire teams reached the site, residents were evacuated while the fire was extinguished. On the ground, police teams managed the movement of traffic to ensure the safety of passing motorists.
Watch: Sharjah to use firefighting drones to combat blazes
