A shoe factory and a wood warehouse in Sharjah's 3rd Industrial Zone caught fire on May 7, 2014. It was the second fire in the area this week. Courtesy Al Ittihad
A shoe factory and a wood warehouse in Sharjah's 3rd Industrial Zone caught fire on May 7, 2014. It was the second fire in the area this week. Courtesy Al Ittihad

Fire destroys factory and warehouse in Sharjah



A shoe factory and a warehouse were destroyed in a fire in Sharjah’s Third Industrial Zone on Wednesday.

Fire fighters from centres in Semnan, Mweylih and Saaja attended the scene, alongside civil defence teams from Sharjah, Dubai and Ajman.

It took them 90 minutes to completely control the blaze, by which time the factory, warehouse and all the contents had been destroyed.

No one was hurt in the incident.

This was the second fire in the area this week, following a blaze at a carwash that engulfed a pile of tyres.

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Family reunited

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.+

She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.

She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.

The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.

She was held in her native country a year later.+

'Worse than a prison sentence'

Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.

“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.

“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.

“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.

“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.

“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”

Could We Be More

Artist: Kokoroko
Label: Brownswood Recordings
Rating: 3.5/5

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