RIYADH // Three Canadians, a Pakistani and a Nigerian were among those killed in a fire that engulfed parts of a residential compound in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
The blaze began early Sunday in a sprawling, multistory housing complex in the city of Khobar that accommodates workers for state oil giant Saudi Aramco.
Col Ali bin Saad Al Qahtani, a civil defence spokesman for the kingdom’s Eastern Province, provided the update in comments carried by the official Saudi Press Agency on Monday.
He said a total of 10 people died and 259 were injured in the blaze. The civil defence directorate previously said 11 people were killed.
Mr Al Qahtani did not provide the nationalities of the other five people killed.
Diana Khaddaj, a spokeswoman for Canada’s foreign affairs department, said consular officers in Riyadh were in touch with Saudi authorities “to gather additional information and are providing consular assistance to those affected and their family during this difficult time”.
Of those injured, 179 had left the hospital after receiving treatment.
A preliminary investigation suggests a short circuit in an electrical transformer in the building’s basement sparked the blaze, which quickly spread through 130 cars parked in the basement, Mr Al Qahtani said. Some 35 vehicles were completely destroyed by the fire.
The complex, known as Radium, is a gated community of eight six-storey buildings with a total of 486 residential units as well as swimming pools and other leisure facilities, according to Aramco.
Saudi Aramco said it employs more than 61,000 workers worldwide from 77 countries. Foreign workers represent around a third of the kingdom’s population of 30.8 million.
* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse