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Three people were burnt to death and eight others — all Asians — sustained minor to moderate injuries in a residential apartment fire at the capital’s prime Airport Road on Tuesday evening.

Firefighters trying to put out the blaze at the Airport Road building in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. — Supplied photo

According to the Abu Dhabi Police, the fire broke out in a nine-storey building late in the afternoon after the Asr prayers, claiming three lives and injuring eight. The blaze erupted on the third floor, destroying the entire apartment. The smoke that spread to other apartments forced people to take refuge on the rooftop and outside.

“The Central Operations Room of the Abu Dhabi Police received a call about the fire at 4.20pm. Firefighters and other rescue and safety teams from different civil defence and police centres rushed to the site. The priority was to put out the fire and evacuate the building. This was done quickly to prevent further casualties. In the fire, three people were killed and eight injured people were rushed to hospital,” said Captain Abdullah Al Tamimi, Head of Customer Services and Public Relations Directorate of Civil Defence.

He said the area was cordoned off by the police and traffic department patrols to avoid any hurdle in the rescue operation. Hundreds of people had gathered around the area. “The fire was brought under control as soon as the fire brigades had the access to the floor. It was a big fire which destroyed the apartment and claimed three precious lives. As one team was engaged in putting out the blaze, another team evacuated all the residents. The smoke that spread to other apart-ments caused suffocation,” Al Tamimi said.

He said all those affected by the smoke were treated on the spot by a team of paramedics. “Immediately after putting out the blaze, we started the cool-ing process of the entire build-ing with high-tech equipment so that the residents could re-turn,” he added.

Al Tamimi said an investiga-tion is already under way to find out the cause of the fire and if the building management had taken all safety measures.

He called on the public not to crowd near such accident sites as it impedes traffic and pre-vents the arrival of the civil de-fence and ambulance vehicles to the site.

Eyewitnesses said they saw many people, including bache-lors and families, coming out of the building in a terrible condi-tion. “They were coughing after inhaling smoke,” said Moham-med Rashid, an Emirati.

Another eyewitness, an Indi-an watchman of a nearby build-ing, said he was having a nap in his room after prayers when he smelled smoke and rushed out of his room, only to find the blaze in the building.