Villaggio Fire Disaster *DISTRESSING*

The mall CEO is under arrest. He's been offered up as the escpaegoat for the mistakes of some influencial ppl.

We all are waiting for the result of investigationl; hopefully, it will be published in the newspaper during this week.

I just saw a photo on Doha News of the emergency exit at Gympanzee.It seems there was a primary entrance and an emergency exit.

Mandi

I disagree that gympanzee was a well known nursery. I use to see the sign all the time but I didn't know it was a nursery. Even talking with many of my co workers today they didn't know it was a nursery either. So I could understand how the civil defense workers didn't know there was one in inside.

I think it s best we don't point fingers at who didn't . We don't know the cause and we don't know who is at fault yet. Quite frankly if anyone is to blame it should be the mall managers. And whoever managed or owned gympanzee. Why wasn't there an fire exit for that nursery? Schools have them so why not a nursery? And if there was no fire exit the nursery shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Titanic sank..Mercedes(?) killed Diana...And the great Villagio has let us down.... :-(

Koykoy

Fire services will not of course have the plans to every house, but they do have the plans to public places like Malls, SCHOOLS, sports stadiums etc.. and to major industrial units ... Well - they do in the UK and I'm sure in the USA , Australia, canada etc...

They also visit these places on Faliarisation trips, to ensure they know how to fight a fire and any extra risks involved with the building.

The photo's are heart breaking, bless those brave men on the roof, trying to save the children without proper equipment, each of you is a true Hero.... Thank you

yes civil defense is firstly to blame but not only responsible, at times it has been mentioned that Qatar government follows strict regulations which are the NFPA Codes (National Fire Protection association) the specific code referred to is the NFPA 101 which in this code it mentions a type of place such as (gympanzee) for what it was being used for needs at least a minimum of two(2) exits. gympanzee only had one. so were does the strict regulations come in only when it suits them or who it is for

Forgive me 'cause I didn't go to the vigil or mess today to show support. Forgive me for being coward no to face you, 'cause I wouldn't bare the pain. Forgive me to dare to feel your pain, 'cause in truth I don't know If I'd be strong enough. Please accept my words below and I hope somehow, someday you find the peace you probably are looking for.

Death is nothing. I only spent to the other side of the road. I am me, you are you. What I did was for you, I remain. Give me the name you always gave me, talk to me as you have always done. You continue to live the world of creatures, I'm living Creator of the world. Do not use a solemn tone or sad, keep laughing what made us laugh together. Pray, smile, think of me. Pray for me. That my name is pronounced as always, without emphasis of any kind. Without any trace of shadow or sadness. Life means all what it always meant, the cord was not cut. Because I would be out their thoughts, Now I'm just out their views? I'm not far I'm just across the road ... You got it there, go ahead, life goes on, beautiful, beautiful as ever.

St. Augustine

La muerte no es nada. Yo sólo pasamos al otro lado de la carretera. Yo soy yo, tú eres tú. Lo que hice fue por ti, Me quedo. Dadme el nombre siempre se me dio, hablar conmigo como has hecho siempre. Usted sigue viviendo el mundo de las criaturas, Estoy viviendo Creador del mundo. No utilice un tono solemne o triste, mantenga riendo lo que nos hacía reír juntos. Ora, sonríe, piensa en mí. Ruega por mí. Que mi nombre se pronuncia como siempre, sin énfasis de ninguna clase. Sin ningún rastro de la sombra o la tristeza. La vida significa todo lo que siempre quiso decir, el cable no se cortó. Porque yo estaría fuera sus pensamientos, Ahora sólo estoy fuera sus puntos de vista? No estoy muy Yo sólo soy al cruzar la calle ... Ya lo tienes ahí, seguir adelante, la vida sigue, bella hermosa, como siempre.

San Agustin

This tragedy is a failure of an entire system--the civil defense for not having/enforcing proper safety codes, the mall owners and managers for not enforcing codes and going beyond the codes to assure safety, the person who approved the construction of the nursery without multiple exits and ventilation, the mall guards and employees and managers for not having and following a better fire evacuation plan, the nursery owner for not having better safety in place. If any one of these groups had acted properly, this terrible loss of life would have been averted.

What I fear is that they greatest blame will ultimately be laid at the feet of the government for doing so little to fix this problem and punish the wrongdoers--although I hope I am wrong.

miss mimi--In China they would be executed summarily for negligence along with whoever in the civil defense was in charge of inspecting the premises and keeping the mall plans on file. This is one of the few times I wish I was in China.

TFS timebandit.

Lets wait and watch what the investigation committee will show the results in a week time, with an action plan and justice to little angels.

Generally, we humans have very short memory and will again follow the daily routine after some days or weeks; but for those who have lost their loved ones/family members will find extremely difficult to come out of this shock, this will take years to overcome their grieves.

Basically, Qatar is a small country, where such disaster/mishap of this magnitude happens once in a while, we felt so attached to such issues.

Hope all will be well in near future.

Take care of yourselves and your loved ones.

Peace

Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us.

I still can't believe this has happened. I can't get it off my mind. I am walking around in a funny kind of daze, I am working but nothing seems important anymore. But my mind is starting to turn from grief to anger now. How could this have happened in a mall built just 6 years ago?

Here are a couple of videos I took yesterday. I have only just had time to upload them.

http://youtu.be/Qk2xEAjoFfU

http://youtu.be/n1kj6scHfqY

Mike, agree with you.........

It's better to Let Authorities Probe "what Actually happened".

Never the Less, Everyone's Heart is bleeding, for the Loss of 19 Souls including 13 Little Angles.... May their Soul Rest In Peace. AMEN.

TB, Well Done... Nice to know you Personally, and proud of that Mate...

Could some of you please stop telling others what to/what not to say?

Thank you for your poignant words.

My thoughts are with the familys of all who lost their lives yesterday but especially the parents of the young children. To lose your children in such circumstances is beyond words. To drop them and school and never see them agian is truly heartbreaking. To never again get the chance to cuddle them, tickle them or read them a bed time story overwhelms me with sadness. Im not a religious person by any stretch of the imagination but I must confess to having said a prayer for each and every one of them last night. May their parents find the strength in each other to get through this dreadful time and may all of those little cherubs rest in eternal peace. I am sure they will be forever by your side and in your heart

To the families of the firefighters you gave the world two of the best, true heroes in every sense who selflessly paid the ultimate price to try and rescue all those trapped. My deepest sympathies are extended to you.

To the families of the teachers, I had the pleasure of meeting your daughters whilst dropping off my daughter at gympanzee. There was always a smile and cheerful welcome for the kids and my daughter would regularly speak of them and how much she liked the nursery. They did good and they will be much missed.

So sad, no words could ease the pain of the people suffering the loss of their children..I'm sure it will soon turn to anger at the neglect that obviously led up to this happening..May the little children R.I.P also the teachers and fire-fighters who also lost their lives trying to save others..Such a selfless act on their part..Bravery should be rewarded..Very sad day indeed!..TB my heart also goes out to you..Can't of been easy to see..

after the investigation.

Yes TB, you did a great job in spreading the news to the Qatar residents and people around the world to know the incident real time.

@Flor; I could not sleep properly last night just thinking about what would if my children would be in that place. May Allah give patience and solace to those parents.

I know very well how strict the civil defense rules and regulations are and how corporate entities over ride the local laws. Does they consider the wooden stairs having higher risk of fire and run mock drills on evacuation procedures into consideration prior giving license to Tots nursery? I seriously doubt.

Obviosly this is all bcoz we are angry and upset mainly due to the callous attitude of mall management and administration.

I would suggest to look the following:

1. Smoke extraction fan/s (this is the fan to extract heavy smoke out of the building during fire). I would presume that most of the victims died of smoke suffocation including the responding firemen.

2. I agree about the impropriety regarding evacuation during fire since one comment above said that during the fire, there are portion of the mall that appeared to be "business as usual"

And again I will say, if you experienced dealing with Civil Defense regarding occupancy permit, to the least detail of requirement for fire safety, they will need to see by themselves. Of course I am talking about the last five years.

Not everyone know about that nursery in Villagio and I don't think that any civil defense in the world has a detailed map of every single shopping mall, house, or building.

fefee you're sad she's devastated? I hope they lock her up and throw away the keys!!! How could she endanger the lives of children like that. She and the owner & managers of the mall all need to be sent to jail!

nursery there but for sure, they came after the mall was built. So the approval for the occupancy of the nursery place should have pass through several agencies. That should be included in the thorough investigation if needed. This is what I am saying all along, many things to consider first before blame or finger pointing and SOLUTIONS be made. It's too early to know what really happened.

I'm sorry it was such a hard topic to report on. If we didn't have you or Doha news, we would have been kept in the dark. You are worth 100,000,000 al Jazeera, gulf-times or peninsula reporters.

ukeng

yes the owner/manager of the daycare is a local.I personally met her couple of times.sad she has to go through all this. she is very devastated at the moment!

can't stop thinking of the bereaved family from New Zealand with the triplets... who can live with such loss! may Allah be by their side.

this can happen to anyone, that's why it's very tragic.

inna lillahi wa inaa ilaihi rajioon.

ya allah, please give strenght to the families who have lost their precious ones.

TB...your pictures made me cry, as many others....

Thanks for your shots, timebandit. They have helped the world to learn of this terrible incident.

In English language news on TV, Sky have extensive reports, changing throughout the night and with phone interviews of eye witnesses. BBC World News also giving prominent coverage. Including video.

Al Jazeera - a couple of lines quoting the confirmed deaths and saying an investigation will take place. That's it. Sad.

But not as sad as the terrible loss of lives. Condolences to all who were close to those killed.

My condolences.. Sad News indeed.. May they rest in peace.

Authorities must be busy after this on prevention and solution. All premise/high rise building shd have their proper 'live' Emergency Response Plan Procedure(ERP) & Emergency Response Team(ERT). Fire Drill suppose to be conducted twice a year so that building/premise occupant/visitors familiar with the evacuation procedure and building alarm/emergency systems. Raids, spot check and proper enforcement in order to ensure all fire fighting, fire alarm equipments/system are working and functioning and emergency/fire exit routes are accessible. Authorities, during the raid or inspection,penalty/warning notice must be issued in order to ensure compliances.

Last few months, similar fire incident occurred at City Centre Mall's food court but no claim lives.

Feel sympathy for kids, teachers and rescue workers's families for the loss, sad day for Doha residents. Lets not pointing finger until report from the authorities is published.

Timebandit, Salute to your reporting and pictures which are being used by all the News Networks around the world.

Proud to know you buddy and the way you brought those images to the world.

It appears that the owner of the Nursery might be a local? Can anyone confirm that?

Flor1212, totally agree, i personally know two locals, who are from Royal family and holding respectable position, both cannot pass their own buildings from the Civil Defense due to improper firefighting system of building unless they change everything and install everything according to the standards..

I think the civil defense has a great deal to account for, but the mall owners, shop owners, etc. also have a responsibility to have multiple exits, decent fire alarms and working sprinklers in such places as an interior nursery. The shop assistants should have all been trained with how to handle an evacuation and the mall security should have been trained for the same--and to assist the civil defense. The whole thing could have been prevented a dozen times over if just one person in a chain of managers, owners, etc. had been competent. The legal term for what happened is corporate manslaughter, and in many countries the culprits go to prison and their riches are seized (in China they are executed).

If no one had been killed and this had happened when the mall was closed, we all would be once again laughing on QL at how stupid and incompetent these people all are. But this time we are sadly mourning dead children, underlining the lesson that stupidity, laziness and greed kill.

I don't Know whether to laugh or cry but if you look closely into what happened it’s just cheer negligence on the civil defense part their fire fighters were physically to weak and untrained they passed out on site the lack of adequate info on the mall’s ins and outs all emergency exists were locked

And to top it all off this awkward silence in the local media.

statement. If you experience dealing with Civil Defense regrading acquisition of Occupancy Permit, you will be somehow be frustrated how stringent their standard is. I will open a new thread so we could deal with this event more objectively and not to create misconceptions. We need justice for the victims but blaming people totally without proper investigation is itself injustice.

Let us calm down for a while and concentrate on grieving in thoughts for the lost souls.

I am sick to my stomach and so upset I can't even express how angry I am. Those poor families. My thoughts are with everyone who was affected by this, and for what its worth I'll even pray for the lives lost and for the families.

Feeling so bad and so sorry on the death of all the people. May Allah Bless their soul.

If look closely, all blames goes to Civil defense Authority. They are the one who issued commercial license to each shop verifying the map, location and safety measures taken in each premises, to ensure sufficient fire alarms, water sprinklets, exit routes etc are placed and explained to all staff in the occupied area.

Unfortunately, this nursery is based in the centre of the mall and very close to the epicentre of the Fire.

If they can't manage a mall, how can the manage a World Cup? I advise every sane soccer fan NOT to come to Qatar in 2022. It's safer in the living-room (unless you live in Qatar already, of course). Expect Amazing!

Civil defense did not know anything about the nursery inside there until well 25 minutes after the fire has spread into all directions and burned the staircase leading to where the poor kids were. The layout maps of the building weren’t much of a help either.

it is an unfortunate incident; and definitely somebody is responsible for this accident.

The villagio mall management and administration have some lapses in the safety of people. Govt has appointed a committee to identify the causes and to suggest the strict measures to curb such incidents in future.

My deepest condolenses to all parents and family members of those who lost their loved ones in this tragic accident.

Inna lillahe wa inna ilehe rajioun

Coudn't agree more..Justice must be served!

responsible for this, BUT it could only be determined after a thorough investigation. Many are preempting and finger pointing. Do you think the real reason or the root of this fire will be known in days?

Let them do their job and when they release the report, that's the time to react. Irresponsible comments will not give any good

Can I also add that in order to react to such emergencies, the emergency services need to be able to actually reach the scene. Next time people think that it is their right to block the emergency lane on the road in order to push in at the front of the next set of traffic lights, they may wish to consider that it could be their children that the emergency services are trying to reach.

Well said. Let us hope that justice is swift and something good comes out for the long term from this tragedy..

I fully agree with Genesis and the other posters about how this fire exposes the greed and negligence of the property owners and proprietors. That this is not a more regular occurrence and that more did not perish is small comfort.

Such incidences as these remind us that despite its wealth and ambitions, Qatar still lacks first world building regulations and safety. Behind the shiny thin veneer of opulence in this places are ramshackle, poorly designed, and unregulated buildings. If this were China there would be executions; if this were the U.S. the punitive damages in the courts would bleed those responsible into abject poverty. May God have mercy on those responsible for this tragedy, because no decent government should.

إنــــا لله و إنـــا إلــيــه راجــعـــون

I was there also،،it is Terrifying

I am very very sad when I heard the news of the 19 dead :(

God have mercy on them

May God Rest the Souls of the many Kids, workers and fire fighter who lost their lives on this sad day.

TB I totally disagree with you – it is our DUTY now to find where the blame lies and bring those responsible to justice. 13 innocent young children lost their lives, and for what!!? Why was this allowed to happen, especially in what is supposed to be one of Qatar’s best malls? Where was the fire escape for those poor young children!? Why was there only on exist leading to Gympanzie!? Why was the fire Alarm not loud enough and to bring it to everyone’s attention!? For God sake where were the sprinklers – where the hell was the fire action plan of the security service that work there when they heard the alarm!??! Was there even an action plan in place for this…obviously NOT!! Why did the minister say the fire service could not immediately locate the maps for the entrances to the Mall!!?? For GOD’s sake, it makes me SICK in the stomach! Imagine this happened on a Thursday or Friday evening; imagine the tolls in number more that would have needlessly perished. For god’s sake people, a crèche for our most vulnerable in society that does not even have a proper fire prevention and evacuation plan or exits. NO we should blame and we should demand a full inquiry into to those that owned and ran Villagio mall – people lives are not cheap neither is the anguish of their parents and their relatives. We are not living in Afghanistan – this is Qatar and this should never be allowed to happen again. Regulations need to be changed, staff in public places need to be properly qualified and trained across the whole country and the government needs to hold a transparent and open investigation into the owners negligence and bring them to Justice – whoever they are, and absolutely no scape goats!! Only by placing the blame with those responsible can we make sure that: Never again – never again!!

I was there too today.

I arrived at around 11 o clock, when they now say the fire started. I entered the Villaggio mall at the Carrefour entrance. And I directly heard an alarm. I didnt pay any attention to it, cause it sounded more like a broken cash-machine.

So, I was in the Carrefour at least 30-40 minutes, and when I was going out, then I noticed some people acting weird and the shops were closing. Then I udnerstood it was a fire alarm.

Now let me tell you, if the alarm sounded already when I arrived, and when I went out 40 minutes later, there were:

- still LOTS of people inside

- not all stores werent closed

- and most of all, they were hardly any firetrucks at all there.

And adding all the stories from all the witnesses and people that were there, you can easily say one thing: The rescue really wasnt ready for such a thing!!!

And the whole planning of the Gympanzee without no fire exits??

It makes me just so so so mad. 19 people died, while they shouldnt have. Not if things would be properly done.

R.I.P. to all those small angels, and all those that suffered today. My prayers are with you.

Last few weeks, i hve posted in the forum about safety compliance and enforcement..dnt expect this wld happened.

For victims family, pls be courage for the loss. May God give them strength..

RIP to the victims...

to something you don't understand. Let the grief of the victims family passed and then we can discuss possible reasons. Civil Defense need to dig deeper and find answers to whatever overlook done before. They are the appropriate government agency to handle this and let them do their report properly. For now, let's join hands in praying for the victims family to find the strength to overcome this tragedy!

Tragic.

I'd gladly swap these kids for twice as many who call these tragic events "destiny"

Honestly, didnt had the Guts to go CROSS VILLAGIO and go back home, had to take another route.

Cant have dinner, dont feel thirsty at all.

May Little angles rest in peace, May their friend and family have the courage to bare the loss of their loved ones.

TB.

Thank You TB!

Very sorry to read this although it has apparently been on the UK News.

My thoughts are with the relatives of the fatalities.

May God give them strength.

Timebandit's account brought tears to the eyes and made me recall the Hindenburg :0(

We should also pray for the brave souls who ave their lives to save others...

im a mother.. and i cant help my tears....

....

Thank you!

My heart felt condolence to family members of the deceased. A very sad day indeed! Timebandit i can't imagine what you might have gone through actually being there.. Thanks for the update..

Inna lillahewa inna ilhey rajioun

May Allah bless those children, teachers and fire fighter personnels, who lost their lives in this fire

My deepest condolences goes to all the parents and close relatives of those who lost their children and family members.

Hope Qatar will Learn lesson from such tragedy and hold semi annual rehearsal on crisis management and disaster recovery in case of fire. Provide sufficient and effective measures to ensure not to repeat such incidence in future.

Thank you, time bandit, a true citizen journalist.

Mandi

A Sad day for Qatar. May they all Rest in peace who lost their lives.

Our sincerest condolences to the families of the deceased.

Salute to the brave fire-fighters who sacrificed their lives.

Timebandit, thanks for having the guts, the nerve and the heart to go there, look at it and report....your pictures show the true story when nobody else was there to tell it. Thank you, you are a good man. :)

I still can't believe it has happened. I still can't believe I was there. I am so upset. This is a dark day indeed. Please refrain from allocating blame. I was there and I saw the faces of the emergency crews. I watched the injured being brought out. I heard the cry's of grief. I will never forget this day.

The innocent lost their lives, and our brave professional gave theirs trying to save others. Can't we all just concentrate on the sad loss. And grieve for the departed and their families instead of guessing what was to blame.

I am heartbroken, please save the bashings for another day ... Please!

Sad day in Qatar...

RIP lovely angels and others who lost their lives..

salute the firefighters who tried their best to save the children and lost their lives in action.

dont think you can blame the firefighters, fighting a fire in this environment cannot be easy.

Civil defence were not told there was a nursery and

apparently two of the firefighters lost their lives tring to get to the kids once they knew they were in the building.

Balme the maintenance companys, if the sprinklers malfunctioned as reported then this suggests regular planed preventative maintenance was not carried out. Blame the mall opperator for not having addequate signage for fire exits and blame all of us for accepting it as a norm in Qatar.

MAYBE some lives would have been saved if they performed CPR.

For a recap of the conference, also see ILoveQatar.net’s Q&A

http://iloveqatar.net/forum/read.php?28%2C35465

Some of the initial findings are shocking

Heart breaking news.......

oh god..............

i agree

if we could all take flowers to villagio and lay them outside to show our prayers and thoughts are with those that lost family, it would be very good.

genesis

I could not agree more, sky news just reported that civil defence did not know how to locate gympanzee. Words cannot describe how I feel, we all came here to work, some of us brought our family with us and now some of us have lost our children. I could cry

May they All rest in peace, May allah give patience to their families

The fire exposed the greediness of mall owners & the negligence of Licensing entities...

conference showing live in Al-Rayyan TV..mozaic channel #203

Sad day for Doha, bless the souls of the dead and I feel sympathy for their families.

Villaggio will be closed indefinitely pending investigation and repairs.

It's also 'Breaking News' on the BBC!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18243136

.

Qatar channel just announced death of 13 kids ( Girls , Boys) 4 teachers and 2 fire fighters,

INNA LILLAH WA INNA ILAYH RAJIOUN

May allah give patience to their families

http://www.moi.gov.qa/site/english

suggests that the teachers stayed with the kids throughout

From recolection gympanzee had one entrance / exit via stairs to a corridor that then had two exit routes. How on earth was this ever allowed to happen, how can a nursery not have a fire escape??

Deeply deeply saddened

Press Conference about the blaze will be broadcasted today on Qatar TV at 8:30 pm

Truly a sad sad day,Qadar Allah Masha fa'l.

Government confirms 13 children dead, 4 teachers, 2 civil defense, 17 injured, among these 4 children, the rest civil defense.

https://twitter.com/?tw_e=screenname&tw_i=207097995840335873&tw_p=tweetembed#!/MOI_QatarEn

The Minister of Health was just speaking. He said 13 children were killed in the fire today, along with 4 teachers and two Civil Defense workers. That’s a total of 19 deaths.

This from Doha news.

Inna lillah wa inna ilaihi rajioon...

Heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families..

Doha news reporting teachers also among the dead suggesting that most of the children that died may be from the Nursery Gympanzee.. SO sad.

TB salute to you and your reporting.

al jazeera just confirmed 14 children dead and 5 adults

RIP

I pray for all the families who lost their children...

May peace be upon them...

shocking and heart wrenching.....May Allah give effected families to bear this loss.....kids...all i can think is how helpless kids are....they r so small...n naive....

Ameen, brother UKEng, ameen.

Mandi

Thank you all for your warm feelings.

I will try to forward your messages of condolences to both our friends...

I have some colleagues with them right now in Hamad Hospital and they told me not to go because it seems the families have turned into speechless ghosts!

I can't even imagine what they are going through...

And yes the place is Gympanzee day care!

100% sure!

It is inside a deep passage so no one noticed the kids...!

But what about who was in there with them?!

MIMH.. Expext Amazing.. Or should I say expect a shocking..Just so sad and angry at the local media...:(

The only News channel that is covering so far is SKY News Arabic.

My son goes to Gympanzee. He did not go today because he hurt himself a few days ago so we kept him home and were going to send him to school tomorrow. Has it been confirmed that the children that were injured/killed were from the Gympanzee day care?

Does anyone know more about whats going on? My son has a friend there named Azus (or maybe Azues) and he also had two brothers that went there. Not sure what to think right now.

Very sad day and yes no mention on QBS on the way home. Shocking how they ignored it to tell me some government person received a letter from some other government.

The incident was mentioned on Al Jazeera 101.7.

just got home from work....no mention of fire on QBS radio.

My heart goes out to all those affected by this devestating tragedy

Sefri, Condolences to the Families. Indeed it is a Big Loss.

Honestly, Everyone in our compound are Sad, Speechless, for the Loss of Precious Souls. ;(

I am so saddened by your news. Words can never be enough but all we can do is pray for the little ones..

So Sad..:(

This is a tragical day!

One of our friends (Spanish) identified his daughter amongst the dead.

If that wasn't bad enough, another colleague from another Spanish company identified his three sons dead!!!

They are both speechless and in a state of shock.

I have always predicted that this mall was unsafe!

I have always tried to detect any Fire Alarm or Smoke Detectors or even a Fire Fighting system on the ceiling, but never seen any!

It seems the looks of the sky are more important than having fire alarm and fire fighting systems!!!

Where are all the press photographers and Al Jazeera?

:-(

god only knows what was going on down there :((((((

Very sad... prayers for the deceased and their families.

heartbreaking indeed :((

no words to explain my sadness in this untoward incident :(

Ohhhh...not Villagio! :(

Really unbelievable...

Shocked and very sad....

A real tragedy. Thanks for the updates TB..

May the little ones rest in peace and may their parents find strength to bear their losses....

That was a SHOCK!! may God have mercy on their souls and help their families over come this tragidy..

This is the latest news about villagio fire:

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/many-feared-dead-in-qatar-mall-fire-reports-459563.html

Very very distressing news..God have mercy on those who passed away and give courage and cure to all those injured and grieving..Aameen Ya Rab!

Nor will they ever at this rate.

Mandi

the newspaper companies out here havent reached that level.

And this is journalism? News? Local coverage? Sorry, I've been living in the US too long.

Mandi

Mandi - GT and Peninsula just have only one update for the day..

@ novita77

I just clicked on your link,that's scary back in 2007 complaints about the fire doors being padlocked..I wonder if it was the case today?..So very sad!

oh thats sad

timebandit, your Flickr page now on Doha News.

I just checked the Peninsula and Gulf Times - NOTHING! Arabian Business has an article, Al Jazeera broadcast a 20-second piece. Doha News and QL are the best sources until the MOI has its press conference.

Mandi

novita77, Feeling like they never took the action, Well there would be many reasons behind the fire and casualties,

Civil Defense Dept was once one of the corrupt one, then management changed and now its the most stick one, They have strict rules and regulations and specifications, One can never pass a building without proper equipment being installed, i witnessed two cases, both clients are from Royal Family and much respectable.

novita77, thats a 2009 thread its nt new.

Now is the high time, Govt should comeout and state the facts as to What really happened.

Every single life is Precious, and My Heart Goes Out to the Families in their Time of Grive.

May the Departing Soul Rest In Peace AMEN. ;(

TB nop .. i gave u a link to check it they r displaying a picture of dead people so i asked u to confirm if it is correct or not since u were there .. am nt talking about ure thread. and sorry that u were there, i can imagine how u feel.

Thank you TB.. for sharing pictures .. its a sad day :'(

not now. MAybe tomorrow!

no words :'(

http://www.qatarliving.com/node/394851

I am not thinking straight.

its so sad... :(

Oh I am so very sorry. My heart goes out to all that have lost loved ones. May those who have passed rest in peace.

so sad... my prayers goes out to all the victim's families. poor little kids. :(

emy007 if mods want to delete this thread, they have my blessing.

www.arabianbusiness.com/many-feared-dead-in-qatar-mall-fire-report-459563.html

TB please confirm if this is true or nt.. if yes than am speechless.. and i hope that people dnt put such pics respecting the families.

http://twitter.com/Al_Anood/status/207091019437719552/photo/1

shame on you losers!

LP you seem to be in a sour mood today.

So sad that in this time of tragedy you are just trying to rub salt into the wounds.....

I suppose this is how they respond back in your place.

AP, Let this west/east/Arab bashing be some other time... Not now please!!!

may God/Allah grant them peace :(

tragic day

A friends wife who works in intensive care has said there are deaths mostly children..So sad my heart goes out to the families and all the emergency services people involved :(

Brian sad to say but knowing the authorities you might be deported for circulating such "lies that cause panic". Tell the truth in Qatar? Ha

i was 100% expecting this fire. for the following reasons:

1. big shopping center with no Assembly point.

2. no training of safety and emergency of the staff in villigio

3. the late respond of the firefighter and the regulation is too bad

4. the low salary of staff make them careless

Check other threads and Doha News as Mandi suggested.

my friend's husband is a paramedic on the scene. His count so far is 14 children have died, 1 nursery worker, and 4 fireman. It is very grim there and he was crying when he called his wife to let her know he was OK. So so so sad. Everyone please pray. Many mothers still don't have word about their little children.

It really breaks the heart.. may allah be with them and their families..

I have no words ..

Go to Doha News for an update on casualties.

Mandi

Oh it's too heaart breaking news any one knows is there any casualities.

That is sad.... :(

suffocation and heat might have led them to unconsciousness.. :(

I pray that all of them are safe.

Are there any injuries/casualties reported?

It's a sad day:(

Thank you, TB. Yes, it is distressing and our hearts go out to these children and their families but WE NEED TO KNOW. If it weren't for QL and Doha News we would have no idea what's going on. Thanks be to God for a free press, finally!

Mandi

Heart breaking indeed.

But who calls it "destiny"?

Heart breaking indeed.

Unfortunatley this is called Destiny. ;(