Electrical fault blamed for fatal blaze at factory

DUBAI // A fire that broke out in the detention centre of Dubai Ports police station, causing the death of an Emirati inmate, was triggered by an electrical short circuit, a senior police official said. The heavy smoke from the fire spread to the detention facility's cells through the air-conditioning system, said Brig Khalil al Mansouri, the head of the Dubai police CID. The blaze, which broke out at about 9pm on Friday, led to the death of an Emirati inmate in his early 40s who has yet to be publicly identified. The deceased, who had been convicted in drug-related cases, died of suffocation after being transferred to a Government hospital, police said. The Dubai forensic department said that its investigation was still ongoing and declined to give any further details. Previous reports suggesting that a group of prisoners had set fire to their detention cell were refuted by Brig al Mansouri. The fire was the latest in a series in Dubai prisons. An inmate who set his cell at al Awir Central prison on fire in June last year was recently sentenced to three months for damaging public property. In another incident AH, a 23-year-old Emirati who set fire to his detention cell at Bur Dubai Police station, was charged in April with endangering the lives of other prisoners, damaging public property, arson and threatening a police officer. wissa@thenational.ae * With additional reporting by Awad Mustafa