ABU DHABI // The three men who died in Tuesday's tower block fire in the city have been identified as Pakistani drivers who were asleep in their flat on the same floor the blaze began.
Residents said the three friends were believed to have suffocated in their third-floor apartment in the building near the corner of Airport Road and Delma Street.
Eight were injured in the fire, which is believed to have been caused by an electrical socket in the kitchen of a flat, and many others were left homeless as power to the building was cut.
Many were forced on to the roof of the building to escape the flames and choking smoke that blocked access to the ground floor.
A labourer, Mohammed Isarwar, 27, said he was in his seventh-floor flat when the blaze broke out. He was among residents on the upper floors forced to head to the roof.
"We were so scared," Mr Isarwar said. "We could not get out. We were suffocating in the smoke. There was more than 100 of us on the roof."
Hundreds of residents yesterday packed their belongings to move out, but those in some parts of the 10-storey building were not allowed in as police continued their investigations.
Bed frames, mattresses and plastic bags full of clothing and personal possessions yesterday cluttered the street outside.
Black streaks marked the front of the block, smearing up from the third floor, while inside the stairways were littered with shards of broken glass and charred remains.
On a patch of grass facing the entrance of the building, residents left homeless sat surrounded by their belongings, unsure of their next move.
The blaze began shortly after 4pm on Tuesday, residents said, and at least three fire engines, police vehicles and an ambulance arrived at the scene about 20 minutes later.
A cordon was quickly set up around the building and pedestrians were moved away by police.
Emergency personnel brought the fire under control within two hours but the third floor of the building was badly damaged.
Jassim Uddor, 27, another labourer, said the residents had not been told when or if they could return to their homes. Mr Uddor said he believed about 1,200 workers lived in the building, mainly Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, with many flats housing seven workers each.
He said he had been out walking when the fire started and returned to see the building alight.
Civil Defence is continuing to investigate the cause of the fire.
Capt Abdullah Al Tamimi, chief of customer service and public relations at Abu Dhabi Civil Defence, said the firefighters' rapid response helped to prevent the fire from spreading to other floors and neighbouring buildings.
The tower-block fire was the second in as many months on Airport Road. The 12-storey Bloom Central commercial and residential towers was partly destroyed after a fire swept through the unfinished building in March. No one was injured in the blaze.
jbell@thenational.ae
