Prince Muhammad Bin Fahd, Emir of the Eastern Province, Wednesday consoles the relatives of the victims of the fire that caused many deaths and injuries at a marriage ceremony in Abqaiq governorate Tuesday night. — SPA Saudi Gazette report
ABQAIQ – Prince Muhammad Bin Fahd, Emir of the Eastern Province, Wednesday visited the families of the victims of a wedding fire that caused many deaths and injuries at Ain Badr village in Abqaiq governorate Tuesday night. He offered the condolences of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques; Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense; Prince Ahmad Bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Interior, and his own condolences to the bereaved families. Prince Muhammad also ordered the formation of a committee to conduct an investigation into the fire at Ain Dar Al-Jadidah Center. Initial reports said the blaze was sparked by celebratory gunfire. The bullets struck electric decorations that triggered a short-circuit, igniting a women-only marquee at the wedding. “At the wedding, the cable fell on a metal door and the people who died were all electrocuted,” Civil Defense official Abdullah Khashman was quoted as saying. All those killed were from the same tribe, Khashman said. The victims were reportedly trying to escape through the metal door, the only exit from the courtyard, when they were killed. Dr. Saleh Muhammad Al-Salehi, Director General of Health Affairs in the Eastern Province, said Abqaiq General Hospital declared a state of maximum emergency at 9.30 p.m. Tuesday to receive the fire victims. He said Abqaiq General Hospital received 10 dead and 16 injured. The dead were handed over to their families after completion of formalities Wednesday morning. The 13 injured cases were discharged from the hospital after recovery. Two injury cases were transferred to King Fahd Medical Complex in Dhahran for treatment and one case was transferred to Saudi Aramco Hospital. The Red Crescent, the Civil Defense, and Al-Ahsa Health Directorate mobilized 19 teams, in addition to medics from Aramco, and the injured were transported to nearby hospitals. The spokesman of the Eastern Province Red Crescent, Fahd Al-Ghamdi, said that teams that attended to the fire were composed of four from the health directorate, 10 from the Red Crescent, three from Al-Ahsa hospitals, two from Aramco, and one from the medical complex. The Kingdom last month banned the shooting of firearms at weddings, a popular tradition in tribal areas. In July 1999, 76 people died in a similar incident in the Eastern Province.
