Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP | Sunday 4/16/2023 A fire in a residential building in Dubai killed 16 people and injured nine others in the wealthy Gulf emirate, local media reported. The fire broke out at midday Saturday on the fourth floor of the building in the Al-Ras neighbourhood in the old part of the city. The civil defence force, in a statement quoted by UAE media, said that preliminary investigations showed the fire […]
Tag: fire
Huge fire engulfs market in Bangladeshi capital
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — Hundreds of Bangladeshi firefighters were mobilized in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday to battle an inferno that raged through a popular clothing market and blanketed the city’s oldest neighborhoods in black smoke. No casualties have been reported so far, but shop owners and fire officials told reporters that the Bongo Bazar market and three adjacent commercial precincts had been almost completely gutted. “Some 600 firefighters … are working to bring the […]
Dry spell leads to wildfires across South Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Firefighters were scrambling Monday to contain wildfires across South Korea as a dry spell led to blazes in multiple regions, including on a mountain popular with hikers in central Seoul. A fire broke out Sunday morning on Mount Inwang, a popular outdoor destination in Seoul’s Jongno district, and spread rapidly due to strong winds, the city government said in a statement. About 120 households were forced to evacuate, but no […]
Thai firefighters battle forest blaze
NAKHON NAYOK, Thailand (AFP) — Hundreds of Thai firefighters and soldiers battled a forest blaze less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Bangkok on Friday as the kingdom grapples with air pollution that has made more than 1.7 million people ill already this year. The fire has affected at least 800,000 square meters (200 acres) of forest across three hills in Nakhon Nayok province, to the northeast of the Thai capital, with two districts declared […]
12 killed after fire rips through Philippine ferry
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — At least 12 people died and 230 were rescued after a fire engulfed a ferry in the southern Philippines, authorities said Thursday. The Lady Mary Joy 3 was travelling from Zamboanga City on Mindanao Island to Jolo Island in Sulu province when the fire broke out late Wednesday, prompting passengers to jump overboard, disaster officer Nixon Alonzo said. Rescuers, including the Philippine Coast Guard and fishermen, saved 195 passengers and 35 […]
‘We’re not dogs’: migrant anger boils after Mexico tragedy
by Herika Martinez Agence France-Presse CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico (AFP) — Searching desperately for his brother after a fire killed dozens at a Mexican immigrant detention center, Abel Maldonado pleaded with authorities to stop treating migrants like animals. “We’re not dogs,” the 29-year-old Venezuelan construction worker repeated before visiting a morgue, praying that his brother had survived the blaze in Ciudad Juarez near the US border. He said the same thing to security personnel at the […]
Spain mulls options as wildfires gain in size, intensity
by Alfons LUNA Agence France-Presse TÁBARA, Spain (AFP) — Walking through the charred remains of the forested hillsides of Sierra de la Culebra that were devastated by Spain’s worst wildfire last year, Pablo Martin Pinto is blunt. “We are moving from the era of big forest fires to mega forest fires in Spain,” says this wildfire expert from Valladolid University, warning that such vast blazes were “here to stay”. Last year, Spain suffered nearly 500 […]
Argentina forests burn amid heat wave, drought
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Fires in heat wave- and drought-stricken Argentina have devoured some 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres) of forests in the northern Corrientes province in just days, officials reported Tuesday. Three fires continued to threaten while two others were burning but under control, according to the emergency command center of Corrientes. No injuries have been reported and the fires have not spread to populated areas, with rains expected Tuesday. Since the start of […]
Massive fire hits Hong Kong high-rise construction site
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — A high-rise building under construction in Hong Kong erupted in flames and was still burning hours later, with some nearby residential blocks evacuated early Friday after the fire threatened to spread. Officials said the fire initially broke out at 11:11 pm (1511 GMT) Thursday in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui, a busy shopping and tourist district on the city’s harborfront. It eventually escalated to the fourth level of severity […]
Mother, seven children die in fire in France
Lille, France | AFP | Monday 2/6/2023 A mother and her seven children aged two to 14 died after a fire broke out while they slept in their house in northern France on Monday, police and firefighters said. The raging blaze, the deadliest such fire in France in a decade, broke out shortly after midnight in the family home in the town of Charly-sur-Marne, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of Paris. The mother and […]
Four killed, four critical after Japan apartment fire
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Sunday 1/22/2023 A fire at an apartment building in Kobe in western Japan killed four men and left four in critical condition on Sunday, an official said. The fire department was alerted to the blaze in the three-storey building by an emergency call at around 1:30 am (1630 GMT Saturday). Four bodies were found after it was extinguished. Four other men, aged between their 40s and 70s, “were taken to […]
Death toll from Cambodia casino fire reaches 26 as search called off
Rescuers finished searching the charred ruins of a Cambodian hotel and casino complex Friday after the death toll from a fire that forced people to jump from windows rose to 26. Hundreds of people are believed to have been inside the Grand Diamond City venue, located in the northwestern town of Poipet within sight of the Thai border, when the blaze broke out late Wednesday night. “The death toll is 26, including 21 Thai nationals,” […]
