Updated to include more details about the fire.
A fire that burned for several hours in an Industrial Area warehouse today appears to be getting close to being subdued, Qatar officials have said.
The fire apparently broke out early this morning, according a tweet from the Ministry of Interior at 6:30am. MOI at the time stated that the fire was “under control” and that there were no injuries.
الدفاع المدني يسيطر مبدئياً على حريق مستودع في المنطقة الصناعية دون اصابات #الداخلية_قطر
— وزارة الداخلية – قطر (@MOI_Qatar) February 9, 2014
However, more than six hours later, residents continue to tweet about the smoke, indicating that the fire took a while to control.
@dohanews @shivasingh fire on a cold rainy morning. Here’s hoping that the fire safety situation in #Doha improves and fast.
— Firas Zirie (@fzirie) February 9, 2014
When reached by phone, a receptionist at Qatar Logistics confirmed to Doha News that the fire was at one of its warehouses, but said they were not releasing any more information at this time.
In a notice published in Monday’s newspapers, the company said:
“By the grace of God there were no casualties and nobody was hurt. The extent of the damage is yet to be established and the company officials are working closely with the concerned authorities.”
According to the Gulf Times, the fire completely gutted the warehouse, which supplied goods to home appliance and electronic stores. The newspaper continued:
This was the biggest fire reported from the area since July 26 last year when a warehouse belonging to the Hamad Medical Corporation was gutted on Street 1 of the Industrial Area. Surgical and pharmaceutical goods, worth millions of riyals, were destroyed in that fire.
The frequency at which such fires are occurring in the Industrial Area is giving nightmares to entrepreneurs having facilities there. Other than the major fires which are widely reported in the media, the area had witnessed many minor blazes as well in recent months.
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