Ajman Ruler offers to help teen who survived villa fire

AJMAN // The Ruler of Ajman has stepped in to help the teenage Emirati boy who survived a house fire that killed his mother, three sisters and two maids.

Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid ordered the payment of one month’s salary to Amer Abdullah Amer, 15.

The boy’s studies until graduation from university will also be paid for by Sheikh Humaid, and he has offered to provide Amer with a job.

The family’s villa in Al Hamideyah will also be renovated by the Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi Charitable Foundation, which will rent it out on Amer’s behalf.

Amer’s mother, Haleema Mubarak, a widow, and his sisters Maryam, 7, Mouza, 11, and Nouf, 14 were killed in the fire on Tuesday, along with the an Ethiopian and an Indonesian maid.

The embassies of the two maids are still waiting for the police to formally identify and release their bodies.

“We have not yet got any official notification from the police about this maid,” said Mesganu Arga Moach from the Ethiopian General Consulate. “We are waiting for this notification so that we can identify the maid and process the necessary documentation to repatriate the body.”

Fajar Nuradi, the labour attache at the Indonesian consulate, said he learnt of the death in the newspapers. He sent two of his staff to talk to Ajman police on Wednesday. They could not confirm whether the woman was Indonesian or of another Asian nationality. The Ajman police were still investigating and the consulate was waiting for a confirmation, he said.

Brig Ali Alwan, the director general of Ajman Police, confirmed that the two embassies had not yet been informed but said the process was ongoing.

“This case has not yet gone to public prosecution as we are still doing our investigation. Once the case goes to public prosecutors, they will co-ordinate with the department of naturalisation and foreign affairs and inform the respective countries’ diplomatic missions.

“These missions and the families of the deceased will then decide whether to repatriate the bodies or have them buried here.”

He could not say when the process would be completed.

ykakande@thenational.ae