Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Damascus, SANA – Firefighters and civil defense teams managed to extinguish a massive fire that broke out on Sunday evening at Damascus Tower in al-Bahsa area in downtown Damascus.
Commander of the Civil Defense Department in Damascus Lt. Gen. Assef Habbabeh told SANA’s reporter that the fire was caused by a malfunction in a generator belonging to a café, which caused it to catch fire, and the flames spread to other floors due to the strong winds.
Habbabeh said that no casualties occurred as the rescue teams evacuated 100 civilians from the upper floors successfully, with the ambulance taking five people who suffered from asphyxiation to hospitals for treatment.
He said that damage is limited to the fourth floor which contains shops that sell mobile phones and their accessories, and that the damage to shops ranged from partial to full.
Prime Minister Imad Khamis visited the site of the incident accompanied by Minister of Local Administration and Environment Hussein Makhlouf and Interior Minister Mohammad Khaled al-Rahmoun, as well as the governors of Damascus and its countryside and Chief of Damascus Police.
Premier Khamis inspected the measures taken by the firefighting teams for extinguishing the fire and ensuring the safety of civilians.
He gave instructions for the immediate reconstruction of the damaged shops and for forming a technical committee from the Ministry of Local Administration and Ministry of Public Works and Housing Minister from Engineers’ Syndicate and Damascus University to study the reality of the building the security factors in it and in other similar buildings.
Ruaa Jazaeri/ Hazem Sabbagh
