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Saudi: 5 killed in fire in Makkah

January 10, 2018 at 9:58 am

Muslim Hajj pilgrims try to touch Kaaba stone as they circumambulate around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site, located in the center of the Masjid al-Haram (Grand Mosque) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on 22 August, 2017 [Fırat Yurdakul/Anadolu Agency]

Saudi authorities announced the death of five people after a fire broke out in a house in the holy city of Makkah today.

The spokesman for the city’s General Directorate of Civil Defence, Major Nayef Al-Sharif, said the fire began in a collection of waste, wood and furniture used inside a courtyard in the neighbourhood of Sharaa Mujahideen with flames spreading to a house nearby.

Al-Sharif said that five people were killed and five others were injured. Rescuers were able to enter the house and rescue those trapped inside. They were taken to hospital for treatment.

An investigation is now underway to uncover the cause of the fire.

Read: Man tries to set himself alight in Makkah Grand Mosque