Four dead in Abu Dhabi fire burnt beyond recognition

• Three Bangladeshis, two Pakistanis, one Indian among dead in Abu Dhabi fire identified, four bodies yet to be identified.

The building that was gutted in the Abu Dhabi fire on Friday.

Abu Dhabi - Six of the 10 people who lost their lives in the tragic fire in Musaffah on Friday have been identified. According to embassies and sources, among those identified were three Bangladeshis, two Pakistanis and one Indian. The remaining four, who are burnt beyond recognition, are yet to be identified. The eight injured in the fire include three Bangladeshis and three Indians.

The embassies said three Bangladeshis and one Indian are missing.

“We have lost two of our citizens in the fire. One is from KPK province and the other from Punjab. They have been identified and friends and relatives are in contact for the repatriation procedures of the bodies,” Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UAE Asif Durrani told Khaleej Times on Sunday. “Hopefully, the bodies will be handed over to the relatives and friends by Sunday night.”
The bodies will be handed over after the medico-legal procedures are completed. “The embassy, with the support of our national airline PIA, will repatriate the bodies, each accompanied by a relative or friend without any costs,” the ambassador said.

A source involved in the procedure of identification of the deceased told Khaleej Times three Bangladeshis have been identified.

This, however, was not confirmed by Arman Ullah Choudhury, press counselor at the Bangladesh Embassy. He said he has information only about three Bangladeshis injured and three others missing. “We are waiting for the forensic results to help establish the identities of the citizens.”

The Indian Embassy said one Indian died and three others sustained injuries in the fire. All four hail from Rajasthan. The deceased has been identified as Om Prakash and the body will be repatriated with the help of the embassy and one of the national airlines.

Two of the three injured, identified as Mahn Qaikhani and Nawab Khan, are in the ICU, and the third, Mohammed Farooq, in the ward.

The ill-fated building had seven shops, including one grocery, one for auto parts and another for exhaust repair facility with oxygen and gas cylinders for welding.


The mezzanine floor was occupied by shop workers, and the top floor with seven single bedroom units — which were workshops originally — were let out to bachelors.

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