Chief of Qassim Police Abdul Qader Talha said that investigations were continuing into the cause of the fire which killed six persons and injured two others, with three nurses among the fatalities. The family of one of the nurses killed, meanwhile, has denied reports that nursing staff were asleep when the blaze broke out and blamed Majid, bereaved brother of nurse Mohammed Al-Enizi, said his family spoke to Mohammed at 5.30 A.M., half an hour before the fire is believed to have broken out. “It will be there in the telephone company's phone records,” Majid said. Majid said that “negligence” was responsible for the fire, alleging that the facility had no central lock system to open exits in emergencies, and that locked doors and barred windows left patients and staff in a “firetrap”. “There are signs such as bruising and other wounds which show that the victims tried to get out but couldn't, and patients in other wards reported hearing cries for help,” Majid said. Jahas Al-Fuheidi, the Qassim Province acting director for Civil Defense – the authority responsible for fire services – has described fire safety facilities at the hospital as “good”, however, saying that fire hoses and extinguishers had all been provided supply and that an early warning system was operational. “Firemen had no trouble opening exit and entry doors,” Al-Fuheidi said, refuting reports that firefighting teams had encountered difficulties accessing the site. The Al-Enizi family, according to Majid, intends to take the case to court and raise the issue with human rights bodies in the Kingdom. – Okaz/SG Conflicting safety claimsBURAIDA – Police in Qassim said that they have arrested one of two patients who escaped from the Buraidah Mental Health Hospital during Thursday's fire, while the search is continuing for the other. __
