Teenage sisters die in Bahrain fire horror
Manama, May 26, 2014
Two teenagers suffocated to death when fire ripped through the first floor of their two-storey home in Sitra.
Sisters Ghadeer and Zahra Khadim, aged 18 and 19, were sleeping in their bedroom when the blaze broke out yesterday (May 25) morning at around 6am, sources told the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.
The alarm was sounded by a street cleaner when flames were spotted coming from the roof of the property.
Resuscitate
"We were notified by a resident at 6.17am and the Civil Defence team from the nearest station arrived within six minutes," a Civil Defence official told the GDN.
"The girls were found choking (on smoke) and an ambulance was called, but despite efforts to resuscitate them they could not be saved."
An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the fire, but it is thought an electrical short circuit in an air-conditioner was to blame.
The teenagers' father Ali Ahmed Khadim, mother Khadeeja and two younger brothers Hassan and Ahmed had already left home for the day, meaning they were home alone at the time.
"Flames were seen coming from the roof and someone threw a stone at a window, which broke it," said a witness.
"It was very smoky inside the house and it spread out quickly.
"By the time the Civil Defence team arrived it took a while for them to beat the blaze and enter the house."
A relative said Khadim, a carpenter, and his wife, a teacher, were in a state of shock and had now moved into Khadim's brother's house with their sons.
Khadim's mother, who lives next door, is said to have fallen unconscious when she awoke to the news and had to be admitted to Salmaniya Medical Complex.
Meanwhile, a policeman said the room that Ghadeer and Zahra shared sustained extensive damage in the blaze.
"The room was completely gutted and the flames had started spreading further down as well," he said. - TradeArabia News Service
