At least 10 people, three of whom are believed to be Bangladeshis, have died and several others have been injured in a fire early Friday, at a residential building in Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates.
The fire broke out at the two-storey building in Mussafah in the early hours, reported UNB.
When contacted, Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Engineer Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said they suspected that three of the deceased are Bangladeshi nationals.
He also said it was not possible to identify the victims as their bodies were charred beyond recognition.
Labourers from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Syria, and Iran used to live in the building in Mussafah.
The fire spread through the building, which houses seven trade stores and car repair shops, from the ground floor up to the second floor where the workers are living illegally, said the Khaleej Times, one of the leading English dailies in the UAE.
The newspaper quoted the Abu Dhabi Police as saying, the operations room was alerted at 3.44am on Friday about the fire, which originated from the three car workshops in Musaffah.
Fire and emergency services were immediately deployed to the site. The fire was contained and prevented from extending to other nearby buildings. However, it consumed the whole establishment.
The injured were given first aid treatment and evacuated, while the bodies of the deceased were taken to the hospital by the forensic medical team.
Abu Dhabi police said the second floor of the building was designated as a warehouse, but was illegally rented leading to the tragedy. Investigations are on-going to identify the exact cause of the fire.
The landlord was arrested and police said it is working to arrest all suspected persons in-charge of the building.
The General Directorate of Civil Defence has earlier warned investors and owners of workshops of the danger of illegal housing and accommodation, and said it will not tolerate those that flaunt public safety.
