Prom night school pupils have lucky escape after limo catches fire

16 pupils were in the stretch vehicle that burnt out shortly after they arrived at the Eastern Mangrove Hotel.

The vehicle was completely destroyed in the fire outside Eastern Mangrove Hotel on Thursday night. Courtesy of Amanda Clarke

ABU DHABI // Sixteen school pupils on their way to their prom had a lucky escape on Thursday night when the limousine they hired burst into flames.

The teenagers, all pupils at the British School Al Khubairat, in Al Mushrif, arrived at the Eastern Mangrove Hotel at about 7pm, in a limousine hired by parents.

On their way, there was a little smoke in the vehicle but the group, most of whom had never been in a limousine before, did not make much of it.

“They could smell smoke and just thought there was a smoke machine in the car,” said Amanda Clarke, whose daughter was one of the 16 pupils on board.

The car arrived at the hotel and “five minutes later, it just burst into flames”, said Ms Clarke.

Parents had heard about the fire on the night but did not realise how severe the blaze was until they saw photographs from the scene.

“It was not until the morning that we realised how serious this was,” she said. “They just feel lucky that they were not in the car at the time the fire started.”

Police are investigating the incident, Ms Clarke said.