year-old Shouq Al-Zahrani, a 7th grade student at Bara'em Al-Watani School, is still in shock four days after a fire engulfed parts of the school building, killing two teachers and injuring many students. “After hearing the fire alarm and the commotion, I ran out to the halls and found a teacher ordering students and teachers to go upstairs because the fire was spreading from below. We gathered in the teacher's lounge on the third floor that seemed safe and shut the door. There were 15 of us trapped in the room; one was a young child,” she recalls. “Smoke started coming in from under the door and surrounding us. Everything in the classroom quickly became hot. When the smoke became too thick and it was difficult to breathe and see each other, we broke the windows open and called out for the people crowding around in the streets to help us. They rushed and brought rugs and bed sheets and asked us to jump out of the window.” Some students complied and jumped out of the window. Some got hurt during the process. I saw a couple of girls getting injured by the metal gate when they jumped. That sight terrified me and every time I leaned out of the window and saw how far up we were from the ground, I could not bring myself to jump. I decided to wait because it was too risky to jump and I knew the firefighters would save me,” said Shouq. “Everyone jumped out of the window to escape the suffocating smoke, except myself and one teacher who refused to leave me alone. The teacher's name was Mansura and she was concerned for my safety. Finally, a brave firefighter rescued us with a long ladder and helped us into an ambulance. I was taken to Al-Jadaani Hospital for treatment,” Shouq said. An investigation has been launched into the causes of the fire at the school. Brig. Abdullah Jeddawi, Director of the Civil Defense in Jeddah, said the investigating team, set up by Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah region, has already started its work. The team consists of fire experts from the General Administration of Criminal Evidence in Riyadh. It is also working with experts from the criminal evidence department of the Jeddah Police and a team of city investigators. __
