Residents tell of Sharjah tower-block fire horror

SHARJAH // When Jihad Awad came back from his office on Thursday afternoon, he never expected to witness his building half destroyed by fire.

“I can’t explain my reaction when I first saw it,” said the Jordanian sales manager.

“I really wasn’t expecting such a scene.”

Residents were forced to flee their homes after flames spread up the outside of their 32-storey tower block.

Plumes of black smoke could be seen pouring from the Abdul Naser building on King Faisal Road, Sharjah, from kilometres around, though no injuries were reported.

Although his 24th-floor apartment was not affected, he was not allowed to go back into the building to collect his belongings.

“I have been living in the building for two years with my wife and nine-month-old daughter, who were luckily in a mall nearby at the time,” he said. Residents were taken to Buhaira police station.

“They promised that we would be allowed to go in and take our valuables, such as passports and IDs,” Mr Awad said.

“They arranged to put us up in apartments in the meantime.” Yesterday, an order came from Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed, the Ruler’s Representative in the Western Region and president of Emirates Red Crescent, for aid and housing for 150 families to be provided.

Families will live temporarily in houses provided by the Red Crescent until work to restore their damaged apartments is complete, state news agency Wam reported.

“I think the building will need at least three to four months to get better. We are now searching for other apartments and following up with the police to see if we can get our rent’s worth back,” Mr Awad said.

Ahmed Ghazi, a 15-year-old schoolboy from Syria, lives on the sixth floor of the neighbouring building.

“I heard someone shouting fire in my building,” he said. “I ran down and called my family to leave the building.”

He said no fire alarm was heard in his building. “I saw a lot of smoke, people running out and a lot of debris falling,” Ahmed said.

Hamza Buldia, from Morocco, said: “The flames took less than an hour to reach the top of the building.”

cmalek@thenational.ae