Sharjah warehouse fire kills factory worker

An employee working at a factory was tragically killed on Saturday due to smoke inhalation after a fire broke out at the factory he was working in. Residents living at the worker’s accommodation woke up on Saturday morning to the sound of glass windows breaking and explosions coming from their factory located nearby. Scurrying for their lives, employees grabbed their personal belongings and ran for safety because although they could smell the thick stench of chemicals, they had no idea where it was coming from. “We didn’t know where the fire was coming from so we ran out as soon as we could. It was only an hour later that I learnt that a friend of ours was unable to escape the fumes,” said Sushil Sah, an employee who lived in the same worker’s accommodation. Aatmaram Ray, a 28-year-old factory worker from Nepal who was killed in the blaze, was working the night shift at Everest Industrial Company at industrial area six, when a fire broke out at the refrigerator and freezer manufacturing company. “He was a good man and was always ready to help everybody. He enjoyed playing cricket on Friday, and I’ve known him for a few years now. Even back in Nepal, we would play cricket a lot together. Even though he wasn’t married, he always sent money back home to financially help his family,” said Sah. A senior official at Sharjah Civil Defence told Gulf News that the fire broke out at about 5.20am, and that the fire was fuelled by the large quantities of flammable materials stored in the factory. About 300 workers were in the vicinity and employees at the scene explained that while more than half were sleeping in their rooms, the remaining were working the night shift at the factory that ran from 6am-6pm. “As soon as we were notified about the accident, fire trucks from all our units were dispatched to the accident site who exerted their best efforts in controlling the blaze,” said Brigadier Abdullah Al Suwaidi, Director of the Sharjah Civil Defence, who stressed that the worker’s accommodation remained intact. “There were dozens of chemicals, thinners and paints located in the warehouse nearby, and our firefighters’ first concern was to remove them as quick as possible to avoid a massive fire from erupting,” said Brig Al Suwaidi. He pointed out that the fire had engulfed all the factory’s contents and that the financial loss of the company was estimated to be more than Dh1 million. The fire was eventually put out in two hours with the collaboration of Civil Defence from Dubai, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain. A cooling process was carried out before forensic experts from Sharjah police began their investigations to determine the cause of the fire. gulfnews .