At least 250 students were safely evacuated from a private girls' school in Hinakyah after fire broke out on Saturday morning, authorities said. Four teams of firefighters in minutes tackled the blaze which started in an electricity transformer, Col. Mansour Al-Dossari, spokesman of the Civil Defense in the Eastern Province, said. A short electric circuit was believed to have caused the fire. Saturday's fire marked the sixth incident in girls' schools in the Eastern Province since the beginning of the new academic year two weeks ago. Earlier, Lt. Hamad Al-Juaid, chief of the Civil Defense Department in the province, said the girls' schools in the province have shown gross neglect for the basic safety measures, putting the lives of young students on the edge. This is a legal negligence on the part of the Girls' Education Department in the province, he said. Some schools have been rented from private parties for more than 13 years lacking basic safety measure, he said. The Civil Defense authorities have not been allowed to examine safety checklist in the girls' schools to bring them into compliance with safety laws, he said. – Okaz __
