At least 10 people, three of them believed to be Bangladeshis, died and several others injured in a fire at a building in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
The fire broke out at the two-storey building in Mussafah in the early hours yesterday, reported UNB.
When contacted, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Engineer Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said three Bangladesh nationals were suspected dead in the incident.
He, however, 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, which originated from the car workshops on the ground floor, spread through the building bringing down the whole establishment, said the Khaleej Times, one of the leading English Dailies in the UAE.
The newspaper quoted the Abu Dhabi police that the building housed seven trade stores and car repair shops from the ground floor up to the second floor where migrant workers were living illegally.
Investigations were going on to identify the exact cause of the fire, said the Daily.
The police further said the operations room was alerted at 3:44am local time on Friday and fire and emergency services were immediately deployed at the site.
The fire was contained and prevented from extending to nearby buildings.
The injured were fast evacuated and given first aid treatment while the bodies of the deceased were taken to a hospital by the forensic medical team.
Police claimed that the landlord was arrested and they were working to arrest all suspected persons in-charge of the building.
The General Directorate of Civil Defence earlier warned investors and workshop owners of the danger of illegal housing and said it would not tolerate those that flaunt public safety.
