Serious violations and human errors behind Qatar Villaggio mall fire

The committee investigating the causes of the fire that erupted in the Villaggio Mall in Doha, Qatar killing 19 people stated that behind this tragedy were serious violations, human errors and evident shortcomings in the response that followed.        

The fire took place at the end of last month and thirteen of those who died were children trapped in the mall’s nursery.        

The committee observed in its statement that one of Nike’s employees and one of the security men at Villaggio failed to extinguish the fire as smoke began billowing from the roof of the mall at 10:56 am. The flames then spread immediately and smoke infiltrated to the adjacent stores that were sheltering the victims.         
The statement added that the Civil Defense arrived immediately after receiving an emergency call, but did not know that there were children trapped in the nursery until after half an since their arrival had passed.

The statement clarified that according to the police, all the victims i.e.13 children, 4 nursery employees and 2 firefighters died from asphyxiation due to the smoke inhalation.