Three dead, 21 injured in separate fires in Abu Dhabi

By 7 days

A man plummeted to his death on Monday as he tried to escape from a burning building in Abu Dhabi by jumping onto a neighbouring balcony.

The Filipino was one of three people who died in two separate fires in the capital. A further 20 people, including three members of civil defence, were injured in the blazes, which happened at different buildings on Electra Street.

Abu Dhabi Police said the man died in a fire that broke out at an apartment on the 8th floor of a building in the Tourist Club area.

“He slipped off a balcony on the 8th floor and fell to the ground,” Rowell Suli, a Filipino who lives next door to the victim, told 7DAYS. “He was trying to cross over to the next apartment after thick smoke engulfed his flat.”

Suli said the fire started at 7am and spread to an apartment on the 9th floor. He believes it might have been caused by a short circuit in the electrical system.

“The building is very old and we have been experiencing short circuits in recent weeks,” he added.

“There are many rats in the building and they always bite the electrical wires.” In the other blaze, a 39-year-old Palestinian man and his three-year-old daughter died after a fire broke out in their 15th-floor apartment in the Al Sadaf building. The victim’s wife and his 12-year-old daughter survived but suffered injuries.

Captain Abdullah Al Tamimi, head of the customer service and public relations section at Abu Dhabi Civil Defence, said: “The two fires were massive and destroyed the apartments involved. The fires also claimed lives of three people.Smoke spread to other apartments and residents had to be treated for breathing difficulties.”