House fire kills seven UAE children

A house fire killed seven children on Monday near the eastern city of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, the education ministry said in a statement.

The victims from the Rabia family ranged from kindergarten age to the eighth grade, the ministry added on its official Twitter page.

Gulf News, a UAE newspaper, quoted a local police and civil defence officials saying that their mother reported the fire at dawn and though the cause of the blaze remained unknown, a short-circuit was suspected.

A tourism and trade hub, the UAE has suffered several high-profile fires among its trademark high-rise buildings in recent years, few of which caused deaths.

“We have today instructed the state’s civil defence to ensure immediately that all necessary fire protection systems are in place in all citizens’ homes”, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister and Vice-President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai, said in a tweet.

Relatively poorer than fellow emirates Dubai and Abu Dhabi, mountainous Fujairah sits astride the Indian Ocean on the country’s East coast.

Following a tragic house fire that led to the death of seven children from the same family in Fujairah, @HHShkMohd directs the #UAE Civil Defense to immediately install fire alarm systems in every citizen’s home at the expense of government for those who can’t afford it.

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) January 22, 2018