Young brothers killed as house catches fire
Firefighters rescued other occupants of shared dwelling in Sharjah
Two Pakistani brothers, aged six and eight, died when a massive fire broke out in their shared house on Saturday afternoon, police said yesterday.
Yesterday, firefighters were sifting through the rubble of the burnt house in the Al Ghafya area in Sharjah to determine the cause of the fire. The house was shared by two families, an official at Sharjah Police told Gulf News.
The brothers, identified as Mohammad Salman, eight, and Mohammad Adnan, six, were burnt to death when their house went up in flames at around 2pm on Saturday. Firefighters were able to rescue the other inhabitants.
The boys’ mother identified as Rozyana, 31, sustained minor burns and was taken to Al Qasimi Hospital and discharged later.
The father Mohammad Arfan, 33, was at a driving institute where he is employed, at the time of the fire.
“I rushed immediately to the house and started looking for my sons. I did not find them, then I asked the firefighters to allow me to go inside to find my sons,” he told Gulf News.
“At around 5.30pm, the firefighters found the bodies of my sons and informed me...”
Firefighters are sifting through the charred rubble of a gutted, blackened home in Al Ghafya area here to find the cause of one of the most heart-wrenching fire tragedies here in recent memory.
Two Pakistani brothers, aged 8 and 6, died when an explosion reportedly rocked their home which then burst into a fireball, said relatives who escaped the carnage as flames raced through hallways and bedrooms, devouring everything in their path.
Brothers Mohammad Salman aged 8, and Mohammad Adnan, 6, burnt to death when fire ravaged the dwelling around 2pm leaving. Two families lived in the house, an official at Sharjah Police told Gulf News.
Sharjah Civil Defence were quickly on the scene and were able to rescue others living in the house but the flames claimed the boys whose bodies were taken to a forensic laboratory following the blaze. The grieving parents told Gulf News that it was numbing to lose two sons at the same time.
The boy’s mother Rozyana, 31, said she sustained minor burns and was shifted by ambulance to Al Qasimi hospital. She was later discharged.
The mother recalled that she was helping her sons to prepare for an examination to be held yesterday at Springdale Indian School where the boys were enrolled in Grade 1 and Kindergarten 2. When she decided to take a brief respite from the afternoon study session, calamity struck.
“I went to wash my hands, then I heard a loud sound like an explosion and smoke covered the place. I could not go inside the house because of the smoke. I thought that my sons had gone out when they heard the sound,” the mother said. “Later, I couldn’t find them. So, I called my husband to come and help.”
The father Mohammad Arfan, 33, was working at Emirates Driving Institute at the time of the blaze.
“I rushed immediately to the house when my wife called, and searched for my sons. I could not find them,” he said. “I asked the firefighters to allow me to go inside to find my sons. At 5.30pm, firefighters found the bodies of my sons and informed me. It was difficult.”
Dealing with the aftermath of his son’s deaths is hard for the parents, more so as the two boys were the only children in the family. Arfan narrates how yesterday the boys’ school bus driver called him asking about the kids. He had to inform the driver that his two sons would no longer need the bus services nor go to school, he says tearfully.