Another night out for fire-hit Al Nahda residents

Normal life continued to elude many residents of Al Aneeqa Building near Al Nahda Park, which had gone up in flames on Tuesday afternoon. Night has fallen and there is no sign of when the building would be declared safe for habitation and residents would be allowed in.
 
Speaking to Emirates 24|7, residents said many of them last night stayed with friends, relatives or even in public places because the building owner did not provide alternative accommodation.

Some reports quoting senior Civil Defence officials in Sharjah said affected families were given accommodation by the building owner in hotels and hotel apartments.

Vamadevan Hariharan, a resident, said: ”There is no electricity and we did not get any alternative accommodation. I spent the whole night outside. A friend provided shelter to my wife and children. They are still living in my friend’s house. I am wearing the same clothes for the past two days. I had to buy new clothes to go to the office.

“My flat is only partially affected but many of my neighbours have lost their household appliances. Many flats are almost totally burnt out,” he said, adding that only a part of his kitchen was affected by the smoke. “I don’t know how long it will take for us to return to our flat.”

Hariharan said he didn’t know anyone who got hotel accommodation.

Meanwhile, Civil Defence has started allowing residents to go back to their charred flats and take out valuables and essentials like mobile phones, keys or other items for daily use.

“There is no electricity yet. We are allowed to visit our homes to take our things. We have to use the staircase as the lift is not working,” said another resident, who collected his office key from his partially gutted flat.

The building is more than 20-storeys high.
 
Residents don’t know when they will be allowed back into their homes to resume their normal life. They also do not know whether they will get any insurance for losses incurred in the fire.

For Bolaji Olakunli, a Nigerian businessman and his family, the fire came as a severe shock. They had to flee from their burning flat leaving behind everything including mobile phones.

“I could not take out anything. We lived on the fifth floor and I had to rush out with my two-year-old daughter, Aioluwa, and wife Abiola Bolaji. My brother was also living with me. As the fire alarm used to ring almost every day, we did not take it seriously on Tuesday. However, when we found smoke in our two-bedroom apartment, we had to run for our life. We came down the staircase and watched the fire eating up our building,” he said.

The African family was happy that their car was safe outside and they could spend the night in the car.

For a Sri Lankan woman living in a flat on the 20th floor, the fire came at the most critical phase of her pregnancy. “The young woman had to walk down the staircase all the way down and by the time she was out of the building, she was totally exhausted. She was taken away in an ambulance,” said one of the residents.

According to Civil Defence sources, no one died or was seriously injured in the fire. Six people were treated but none hospitalised, they said.

For Ginu Varghese and three other room-mates on the 16th floor, the fire started when they were having an afternoon nap. “I was outside the room but three of my friends were sleeping in the room when the fire started. They did not realise that the building was on fire until a Civil Defence official knocked on their door and advised them to escape. The fire started from the eighth floor and gradually spread upwards because of strong winds.”

“I did not have clothes to go back to work after Eid,” said one of his room-mates.

As the fire started around lunch time, many residents had to skip lunch.

"I was feeling hungry, but my wallet was in the burning flat. I went to the nearest fast-food outlet and bought food on credit,” added another resident.

Helicopter rescues Sharjah residents from major fire in Al Nahda tower 

Al Nahda Fire: Families ignored fire alarm

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.