8 Bangladeshis die in UAE factory fire

This July 20, 2010 photo shows workers stand inside the Portland labour camp in an industrial area on the outskirts of Sharjah. Gulf nations have relied heavily on the supply of cheap labour from Asia to build their vast housing and infrastructure needs. Photo: Reuters

Eight Bangladeshi workers succumbed to their burn injuries on Tuesday, two days after a fire broke out in a pesticide factory in Sharjah of United Arab Emirates.

Primarily, the victims were identified, as Bacchu Hawlader, Al-Amin, Ali-Akbar, Jakir Hossain and Md Khabir, all of them were the residents of Shariatpur while Md Mizan from Faridpur, said Nasreen Jahan, first secretary of Bangladesh Consulate in Dubai.

She said the victims were identified based on the information of the fellow Bangladeshi workers in Sharjah but the police did not confirm their nationalities.

The secretary added that two Bangladeshi workers were receiving treatment in a hospital in Dubai.

All of these workers were working illegally in the different factories in Sharjah. The fire broke out in three factories named as Al-Nasee, a pesticide factory, Al-Anowar, a packaging factory and Al-Shams, a carpentry factory, Nasreen said.

But she could not be confirmed whether the victim Bangladeshis were the employees of the same factory or separate factories.

Eight workers were injured in a fire that broke out at a pesticide factory on Sunday night. The fire erupted at the factory in the Al Sajja industrial area at about 9:00pm.

“The intensity of the fire was very strong because the materials being burned were extremely flammable,” Brigadier Abdullah Al Suwaidi, Director-General of Sharjah Civil Defence told Gulf News.

“The fire broke out at the pesticide factory and spread to the adjacent wood workshop but the exact cause has not been established until we carry out an investigation. We were able in six hours to get the fire under control,” Brigadier Al Suwaidi said.

All roads were cordoned off by Anjad patrols and the area was evacuated. Al Sajja Police station is investigating the incident.