JAHRA, KUWAIT // Distraught neighbours yesterday recounted the horrifying scenes that unfolded at a wedding party fire that killed 41 women and children on Saturday, as friends and family members of the 80 injured in the blaze gathered at the local hospital.
Little remains of the tent at the scene of the fire in the tribal area of Jahra, west of Kuwait City. Yesterday, officials sifted through piles of clothes, food, and cutlery scattered across the blackened ground where just a few hours before, scores of women and children from the Zafeeri family celebrated a wedding.
A spokesman for the ministry of interior yesterday said the careless placement of the tent near houses hindered rescue efforts and could be to blame for the tragedy, but fire officials said it was too early to establish the cause of the blaze.
A burnt-out lorry and piles of twisted metal chair frames were cordoned off by police as dozens of Kuwaitis passed through the area of the tragedy that has shocked Kuwait. Residents who live in the rows of houses that stand within a few metres of where the tent was erected - and which hampered rescue efforts - are still in disbelief that such a joyous occasion could have gone so horribly wrong.
"There were a couple of hundred women in the tent," said Abdullah al Zafeeri, the horror of what happened etched in his face as he sat in the lounge of the house next door to the disaster. "I heard the women screaming. Some children died in the arms of their mothers."
Mr al Zafeeri's mother and sister are in hospital, and he doesn't know if they will be all right. "The bride wasn't here yet. She was getting prepared for the party with makeup and henna, and was due to arrive at 10pm." The fire department said they received the first emergency calls about 8.45pm. The fate of the bride has not been officially confirmed.
Mr al Zafeeri's cousin, Ibrahim al Enezi, said: "We saw many people die here, the bodies were piled up. We saw around 20 bodies outside the tent and the fire department was still collecting them from inside."
Mohammed al Subaiy, an art student who lives in the neighbouring street, said: "I saw one old woman on her knees. Her legs were burnt but she held her hands up in the air and was praying. Men kept trying to get inside the tent, but the heat from the flames kept pushing them back. By the time the fire brigade got here, the tent had collapsed, and people were stuck inside."
Khaled al Sarhed, the manager of Jahra fire station who led the rescue operation, said: "When they put people in the ambulances, there were so many people and cars around the scene that they struggled to get out. When the fire started, women and children fought to get to the tent's exit and there was a huge crush. Many people died near the door when some people fell and others fought to get over the top of them."
About 16 fire engines arrived at the scene from four fire stations, the first within five minutes of getting the emergency call, Mr al Sarhed said. He said it is still too early to know how the fire started. Authorities are running DNA tests to identify charred bodies of the 35 women and six children killed in the blaze, Brig Gen Jassem al Mansouri said, according to the Associated Press.
"The fire started so quickly, and a car beside the tent exploded," said Saud al Khaldi, a retired soldier who lives in the next street. "Around 20 ambulances started to arrive after 10 minutes, and people were helping by bringing the women to the hospital in their cars."
"Injured women were strewn across the ground. People were taking off their clothes to cover them because they had lost their own in the fire."
Jahra is a conservative area of Kuwait. Many of the tribes who settled here were Bedouin nomads from the desert. Kuwaitis who have been denied citizenship, known locally as Bedouns, also make up a sizeable part of the population.
The prime minister, Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al Ahmed al Sabah, the deputy speaker of the parliament, Abdullah Roumi, and the minister of health, Dr Hilal al Sayer, yesterday visited the 25 injured women who are still being held in Jahra hospital.
Sheikh Nasser commended the hospital's quick response to the catastrophe and said the government will provide full health care for the injured.
Dr al Sayer said: "The emergency services were fantastic, within 35 minutes, the first cases started coming here and the staff arranged other beds in other hospitals too. Forty-one were completely charred and five or six are still critically ill with over 80 per cent burns," he said.
Families of the victims lined the hospital's corridors as nurses in white abayas and niqabs tended to the injured. One of the nurses who did not want to give her name said: "This was much crazier than anything I have ever seen before."
A family member of some of the victims, Mohammed Bander, who is a nursing student, said: "Five of my cousins were trapped in the blaze. Three of them are in Jahra hospital, and I haven't heard anything about the other two. I fear that they have been burnt so badly, we won't be able to recognise them, and we are waiting for the DNA tests."
"I've been in the hospital since last night, and I haven't got a wink of sleep," he said.
Faris al Zafeeri, another member of the tribe whose wife was in the tent, said: "My wife has second degree burns on her shoulder, elbow and back, but she knows first aid and she still tried to help the injured. She's here now, but I think she's going to be OK.
"That was a terrible location for a wedding celebration; it was hemmed in by buildings on each side. They should not have held a party there."
Col Mohammad al Saber, a spokesman for the ministry of interior, said the tent was dangerously located between too many houses.
"Despite constant warnings and recommendations that utmost caution be observed when setting up such gatherings, carelessness often leads to such tragedies.
"Setting up tents in housing areas and between homes is extremely hazardous and will hinder rescue and response efforts in case of tragedy," he said, according to the state news agency.
Mr al Zafeeri, who is an emergency medical technician, said part of the problem was that the people did not know what to do with the victims at the scene. "I want the ministry of education to start teaching first aid in the schools. Why do we have classes in subjects like music? What's the point in that? It's not as important as emergency care."
@Email:jcalderwood@thenational.ae
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TV: World Cup Qualifier 2018 matches will be aired on on OSN Sports HD Cricket channel
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Maestro
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBradley%20Cooper%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBradley%20Cooper%2C%20Carey%20Mulligan%2C%20Maya%20Hawke%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Graduated from the American University of Sharjah
She is the eldest of three brothers and two sisters
Has helped solve 15 cases of electric shocks
Enjoys travelling, reading and horse riding
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: nine-speed
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh848,000
On sale: now
Most F1 world titles
7 — Michael Schumacher (1994, ’95, 2000, ’01 ’02, ’03, ’04)
7 — Lewis Hamilton (2008, ’14,’15, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20)
5 — Juan Manuel Fangio (1951, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57)
4 — Alain Prost (1985, ’86, ’89, ’93)
4 — Sebastian Vettel (2010, ’11, ’12, ’13)
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
Turning%20waste%20into%20fuel
%3Cp%3EAverage%20amount%20of%20biofuel%20produced%20at%20DIC%20factory%20every%20month%3A%20%3Cstrong%3EApproximately%20106%2C000%20litres%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAmount%20of%20biofuel%20produced%20from%201%20litre%20of%20used%20cooking%20oil%3A%20%3Cstrong%3E920ml%20(92%25)%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ETime%20required%20for%20one%20full%20cycle%20of%20production%20from%20used%20cooking%20oil%20to%20biofuel%3A%20%3Cstrong%3EOne%20day%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EEnergy%20requirements%20for%20one%20cycle%20of%20production%20from%201%2C000%20litres%20of%20used%20cooking%20oil%3A%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3E%E2%96%AA%20Electricity%20-%201.1904%20units%3Cbr%3E%E2%96%AA%20Water-%2031%20litres%3Cbr%3E%E2%96%AA%20Diesel%20%E2%80%93%2026.275%20litres%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Western Region Asia Cup T20 Qualifier
Sun Feb 23 – Thu Feb 27, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the Asia qualifier in Malaysia in August
Group A
Bahrain, Maldives, Oman, Qatar
Group B
UAE, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
UAE group fixtures
Sunday Feb 23, 9.30am, v Iran
Monday Feb 25, 1pm, v Kuwait
Tuesday Feb 26, 9.30am, v Saudi
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza, Rohan Mustafa, Alishan Sharafu, Ansh Tandon, Vriitya Aravind, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Karthik Meiyappan, Basil Hameed, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Ayaz, Zahoor Khan, Chirag Suri, Sultan Ahmed
RESULTS
6.30pm UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Conditions (TB) US$100,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner Final Song, Christophe Soumillon (jockey), Saeed bin Suroor (trainer).
7.05pm Handicap (TB) $135,000 (Turf) 1,000m
Winner Almanaara, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson.
7.40pm Handicap (TB) $175,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner Grand Argentier, Brett Doyle, Doug Watson.
8.15pm Meydan Challenge Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner Major Partnership, Patrick Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor.
8.50pm Dubai Stakes Group 3 (TB) $200,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner Gladiator King, Mickael Barzalona, Satish Seemar.
9.25pm Dubai Racing Club Classic Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 2,410m
Winner Universal Order, Richard Mullen, David Simcock.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Frida%20
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies direct from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro from Dh7,000 return including taxes. Avianca fliles from Rio to Cusco via Lima from $399 (Dhxx) return including taxes.
The trip
From US$1,830 per deluxe cabin, twin share, for the one-night Spirit of the Water itinerary and US$4,630 per deluxe cabin for the Peruvian Highlands itinerary, inclusive of meals, and beverages. Surcharges apply for some excursions.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: BorrowMe (BorrowMe.com)
Date started: August 2021
Founder: Nour Sabri
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce / Marketplace
Size: Two employees
Funding stage: Seed investment
Initial investment: $200,000
Investors: Amr Manaa (director, PwC Middle East)
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
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About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
Quick%20facts
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