Jeddah - Arabs Today
The following are major fatal fires in the Gulf in recent years: October 2012 At least 24 people died in a fire at a wedding party in a small village near Abqaiq in the Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia. May 2012 Nineteen people, most of them children, were killed at the Villaggio Shopping Mall in Doha, Qatar, as a fire swept through the Gympanzee nursery. Thirteen children, four teaching aides and two firefighters died in the blaze. August 2009 A wedding tent fire killed 57 women and children in Jahra, Kuwait, 40 km west of Kuwait City. A 23-year-old woman, who wanted to ruin the marriage of her husband with a second wife, was convicted and sentenced to death for starting the fire. January 2007 Two workers died and 40 were injured at the 35-story Jumeirah Lake Towers in the Dubai Marina when a fire broke out in the upper floors. The Towers were under construction at the time of the blaze. November 2007 The Haradh-Uthmaniyah gas pipeline in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia caught fire, killing 40 workers performing maintenance work. September 2003 A fire at the Al-Haer prison in Riyadh left 67 inmates dead, and 20 prisoners and three guards injured. The cause of the blaze was believed to be an electrical short circuit. March 2002 Makkah Intermediate School No. 31 caught fire, killing 15 young girls and injuring 50 others. Fire investigators believe the blaze started on the top floor by a cigarette butt.