SHARJAH // Atta Mohammed sat in a daze on the steps outside his apartment block, oblivious to the commotion of other residents seeking to enter their fire-damaged homes.
The businessman's cream kandura was yesterday covered in black smudges after rummaging through the remains of his 20th-floor flat to recover passports, his children's degrees and other valuables.
"I am really tired," said Mr Mohammed, 48. "There is no electricity and the elevators are not working. I have walked up 20 floors twice to get my things."
Minutes after a fire began in the kitchen of flat 803 of the Al Aneeqa Tower in Al Nahda on Tuesday, it began spreading to the floors above.
Mr Mohammed was at home at the time with his wife when he heard an explosion.
"The house filled with smoke and my wife had an asthma attack and could barely walk," he said. "It was horrific when we saw flames all around us and had to start running.
"My wife was so sick that halfway down she asked me to leave her but I somehow managed to drag her with me."
Mr Mohammed was devastated by the loss when he returned yesterday morning.
"The kitchen does not exist any more," he said. "Because of the heat a lot of my furniture has melted. I would say I've lost about Dh100,000 worth of items."
The kitchens of all the flats above number 803 were gutted.
At Mr Mohammed's residence, the carpets were soaked in water, walls and furniture were covered in soot and the false ceiling in the corridor had fallen down. The kitchen had collapsed and all of their appliances were destroyed.
The fire began at 12.50pm and took firefighters from Dubai and Sharjah an hour to extinguish.
An investigation into its cause is continuing but building representatives said it may have been started by an appliance short-circuit in the flat of an Afghan man, who was being questioned by police yesterday.
Residents complained of mismanagement by authorities in containing the fire.
"It was a small fire but because there was no timely action it spread," said one resident.
"There was no evacuation plan and the fire was not being put out. The fire hoses on every floor were not being used to contain it."
On Tuesday evening, authorities cordoned off the building as a precautionary measure, but they were allowing people to visit and collect their belongings yesterday morning.
Kareem Ablej, a financial consultant who lives on the 16th floor, said he had no place to go on Tuesday night.
"There was no accommodation provided for us and we waited outside the building until 2am," Mr Ablej said.
"We finally got permission from the police to go to our flats. My siblings and I cleaned up some of the rubble and bunked there."
Weary residents expressed their frustration with the building owners for not arranging alternative accommodation.
"Many spent the night in their cars or had to go to a friend's place," said Mohammed Jawed, from Pakistan. "I was here until 2am and I saw women standing on the road with their children because they didn't have any place to go."
Saeed Al Jabri, the property agent who was handling the grievances of the residents on site, said the company was doing its best.
"Eighteen flats have been destroyed and now we are waiting for a report from the insurance company to assess the damage," Mr Al Jabri said.
By yesterday evening, the electricity had been reconnected in parts of the building and those with the worst-affected homes were handed keys to undamaged, vacant apartments.
But Mr Al Jabri said he could not give a time for the start to renovations.
Residents said they should be compensated and provided with accommodation while the matter was being addressed.
Tenants whose apartments have not been affected hope they will be able to get back to their daily routines soon.
Mr Mohammed is among the residents who have been given keys to a vacant flat while his apartment is fixed.
"I was given the key to another single-bedroom place so I am glad we can stay here," he said. "My wife and son came out safe. That was most important to me.
"Money comes and goes, but if something had happened to my family it would be real devastation."
aahmed@thenational.ae
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
MATCH INFO
Asian Champions League, last 16, first leg:
Al Ain 2 Al Duhail 4
Second leg:
Tuesday, Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha. Kick off 7.30pm
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mobile phone packages comparison
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
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%3Cp%3E1.%20Protracted%20but%20less%20intense%20war%20(60%25%20likelihood)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E2.%20Negotiated%20end%20to%20the%20conflict%20(30%25)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E3.%20Russia%20seizes%20more%20territory%20(20%25)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E4.%20Ukraine%20pushes%20Russia%20back%20(10%25)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EForecast%20by%20Economist%20Intelligence%20Unit%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
