KUWAIT: Five members of an Egyptian expat family died in a major fire that broke out at their Khaitan apartment yesterday. The victims, a man, his wife and their three children were found dead inside their studio apartment by the neighbors, a source at the Kuwait Fire Services Directorate (KFSD) said. The source said that the deaths may have occurred due to smoke inhalation though the exact cause of the deaths could not be immediately determined.

According to the source, the neighbors broke open the ground floor apartment after they found smoke emanating from the flat and a hot doorknob following a power breakdown in the building. They immediately informed the fire department officials who rushed to the scene only to find the dead bodies inside, the source added.

Meanwhile, an investigation was ordered to find out the circumstances that caused the fire leading to the tragedy. The KFSD had issued a warning at the beginning of this year's summer cautioning the residents about a possible rise in the number of fire incidents in the country. The escalation of fire fatalities in the last few years during summer has become a matter of concern for both the fire department and the residents. According to some reports, they occur mostly due to a lack of adequate fire safety measures being adopted by many apartment owners in their buildings.

Last June, an Egyptian child sustained fatal burn injuries in a fire at her family's apartment in Jabriya. And in March, three Saudi children died of smoke inhalation after their Saad Al-Abdullah apartment caught fire. A month earlier, two children died due to suffocation after a fire gutted their house in Subahiya.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun