A minor fire broke out at Gems Modern Academy on Monday. Courtesy: Dubai Civil Defence
A minor fire broke out at Gems Modern Academy on Monday. Courtesy: Dubai Civil Defence
A minor fire broke out at Gems Modern Academy on Monday. Courtesy: Dubai Civil Defence
A minor fire broke out at Gems Modern Academy on Monday. Courtesy: Dubai Civil Defence

Pupils moved to safety after fire breaks out at Dubai school


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Hundreds of pupils were taken to safety after a small fire broke out at a school in Dubai on Monday.

Dubai Civil Defence received a report of a fire at Gems Modern Academy in Nad Al Sheba 3 at 12.06pm.

The fire started in the guards' room at the entrance of the campus.

Firefighters put out the blaze in 10 minutes.

All pupils and staff are safe and no injuries were reported.

“A fire broke out at Gate 3 in the guards’ cabin today,” said Nargish Khambatta, principal and chief executive of the school.

"The school’s well-rehearsed evacuation protocol was followed immediately and all children were taken to the main field away from the scene of the fire within minutes."

There were about 3,700 pupils enrolled at the school last year.

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How to get exposure to gold

Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.

A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.

Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.

Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.

London-listed Centamin is up more than 70 per cent in just three months, although in a sign of its volatility, it is down 5 per cent on two years ago. Trans-Siberian Gold, listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM) for small stocks, has seen its share price almost quadruple from 34p to 124p over the same period, but do not assume this kind of runaway growth can continue for long

However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.