A woman and her four children were killed Tuesday morning in a fire that broke out in a on the roof of a ramshackle residential building in an unplanned area in Al-Misfalah District. Investigations showed the blaze started at the building's entrance, said Major Ali Al-Muntashiri, spokesman for the Makkah Civil Defense. The fire surrounded the family and kept them from escaping the roof. Examination of the site showed that the manner in which the annex was constructed, and the materials used, contributed to the ferocity of the fire. The spokesman said preliminary investigations showed the fire was an accident. However, investigations are continuing. Earlier this month, four Umrah pilgrims were injured in a fire that broke out in a 10-story hotel in Ajyad District of Makkah. Civil Defense personnel evacuated some 300 Umrah performers from the hotel. Last month, two boys reportedly diad in a fire that broke out in their flat in Al-Shishah District in Makkah and two of their brothers and their mother were injured. Reports suggest that the boys died of suffocation while they were asleep. The fire broke out in a room adjacent to the flat's only entrance and trapped the mother and her children. The boys' father was at his work at the time of the incident.
