DUBAI // The body of one of the two men who have been missing since a fire destroyed a warehouse in Al Quoz on Sunday was found by fire crews yesterday.
However, it was so badly burnt that it is not yet known which one of the two men it is.
Two employees of Al Sana Fashions had been missing since a fire destroyed the company's main warehouse and head office in Al Quoz.
“We only found one body,” a spokesman for Dubai Civil Defence said. “It was fully burnt so we haven’t been able to identify it yet.”
It is not yet known what has become of the other man, but colleagues at Al Sana Fashions said they feared the worst.
The fire started at 11am and most of the 140 employees who worked at the warehouse and attached office left safely.
The retailer has two outlets in Dubai, and shops in Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, Doha and Muscat.
It was believed to have been the company’s only warehouse for the region and experts believe the fire could have severe ramifications for Al Sana’s future.
The cause of the blaze is still unconfirmed. Staff said the fire may have started at the rear of the building. Textiles housed in the factory were believed to have acted as an accelerant.
Nearby warehouses, including one owned by Modern Bakery, were unaffected.
A fire safety conference held in Dubai was told that 70 per cent of industrial buildings in the UAE have been visited as part of an ongoing Civil Defence campaign to raise awareness of safety regulations.
More than 260,000 households were also visited as part of the initiative that was launched in 2010.
The details were provided by Hamdan Al Raisi, assistant director of Fire Prevention at Dubai Civil Defence on the second day of the fourth annual FireSafe conference.
Reading a speech on behalf of Maj Gen Rashed Thani Al Matroushi, director general of Dubai’s Civil Defence, Mr Al Raisi said there was an ongoing determination to improve standards.
“Since the first year of the conference in 2010 Civil Defence has conducted a most extensive campaign raising awareness in 260,000 households in the country,” he said.
“Civil Defence has also implemented a number of projects in educating both public and private facilities.
"We are also very keen in relation to working with international standards on fire safety."
Fire authorities have been proactive in adopting a new safety manual that is believed to be the first of its kind in the Arabian Gulf.
“We have also developed a manual for emergencies and it has been provided to emergency response teams at accident sites,” Mr Al Raisi said.
Civil Defence is also closely involved in the process of building designs, he added.
The three-day FireSafe conference being held at the InterContinental Hotel in Festival City ends Wednesday .
mcroucher@thenational.ae
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