Two female teachers died and 46 others, most of them students, sustained injuries in a huge fire that broke out in a private girls' school in Al-Safa District here Saturday afternoon. The fire broke out in the school's underground floor, possibly caused by an electric short circuit. But officials have not yet revealed the reasons for the fire. The school had kindergarten, elementary and intermediate sections. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah region, visited the city's Bara'em Al-Watan School immediately after the fire was reported and said a committee would look into the incident. “Necessary measures will be taken in the light of the probe results,” he said. The Civil Defense, he said, has been asked to present its report as quickly as possible. Prince Khaled and Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah, Education Minister, conveyed their condolences to the bereaved families. The education minister also instructed Noura Al-Fayez, Deputy Minister of Women's Education, to visit the school and inspect the conditions of the injured and make sure that they got adequate medical treatment. The cause of the deaths of the two teachers was not released, but sources said that they possibly died of asphyxiation. Sources have named the dead as Ghadeer Kattou'ah and Reem Al-Nahari. Their bodies have been placed in the King Fahd Hospital morgue. There were reports of a near stampede toward the exits while some witnesses reported that some students had jumped through windows. The Civil Defense deployed nine firefighting and rescue teams to the school. The Health Department in Jeddah declared an emergency at all hospitals in the city to receive the fire victims. More firefighting units were sent to quell the blaze as quickly as possible. Stairs and helicopters were used to rescue students from the school, a Civil Defense official said. Air ambulance service of Saudi Red Crescent Authority was also called in to transport victims. Apart from the first-aid services of the Civil Defense, medical teams of government and private hospitals were called in to support rescue services. Injured students and teachers were initially taken to a nearby hospital and then they were moved to King Fahd Hospital. The Civil Defense used special Snorkel trucks to rescue 55 students from upper floors of the building while the air ambulance carried three of the injured to hospital after landing on the school's terrace. The school has 700 students on its rolls in addition to 150 teachers and administrators. Brig. Abdullah Jeddawi, Director of Civil Defense in Jeddah, said all students and teachers were evacuated soon after the arrival of the rescue teams using special stairs and helicopters. He said the presence of a large number of parents and onlookers around the school and iron grills covering the windows hampered the rescue work. “We found it difficult to reach the accident spot quickly. We don't blame parents and husbands for their concern. It's quite natural as they wanted to make sure their daughters and wives were safe.” He said the firefighters had come from various centers to contain the fire as quickly as possible. “We had mobilized the largest number of firefighting units to control the fire,” he added. __
