According to wire service reports received here, no more details about their identities were immediately available.

The workers were suffocated to death as the fire swept through a furniture warehouse where the poor workers were staying. The workers were sleeping in a small room that served as their living quarters in the warehouse when the fire broke out Saturday night.

The room could only be accessed through the warehouse and did not have any window. Saudi newspapers quoted a civil defence official as saying that the blaze was caused by negligence and the men suffocated to death from the smoke.

Al-Hayat daily said all eight victims were from Bangladesh. However, Al-Riyadh reported that seven were from Bangladesh, while the other was an Yemeni.