Hundreds of Bahrain workers left homeless by fire

Fire destroys two buildings in the heart of Bahrain's capital Manama. (Getty Images)

Aid organisations say hundreds of construction workers have been made homeless after a fire destroyed two buildings in the heart of Bahrain’s capital Manama yesterday.

It is thought the fire started in a temporary shelter located on the roof on one of the three-storey buildings at around midday.

Civil Defence and Fire Service officials at the scene suspected the blaze was triggered by an electrical fault and said it spread rapidly due to the highly flammable material on the roof.

Gita Krishna from aid group Helping Hands said most of the residents were at work at the time of the fire and nobody was killed, but many have lost all their possessions.

“I’m down at the scene of the fire and it is chaotic here,” she told Construction Week this morning.

“Between 200 and 250 workers are homeless so it’s a bad situation. They spent the night out on the pavement and we are trying to see what we can do.

“Maybe we can give them some clothes by tomorrow, but today we are trying to get some restaurants to give food because many of them have lost a lot of money in the fire.”

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Krishna said they are taking a list of affected people and so far 220 workers, mostly in the construction sector, have registered and she expects the number to grow.

“Many of them don’t identify themselves because they might be illegal free visa workers so they run before the police come,” she said.

“When they know someone is here to help, they generally come in a little later, so the number could climb to 250.”

Krishna said she expects the workers will “find places to live sooner or later” but said their conditions were typical of the poor housing conditions in Manama.

“These people are living in very cramped houses, you’ve got to see it to believe it, it is an accident waiting to happen,” she said.

“We’ve been coming to so many of these fire incidents and we keep saying something needs to be done over and over again.”

Last October three Bangladeshi workers were killed and seven injured when a fire destroyed their home in Jidhafs. Twenty-two construction workers lived in the four bedroom house.

In July 2006, a three-story building in Manama which housed 300 construction workers was destroyed killing 16 Indian workers.

Last week, the Manama Municipality said there are around 100,000 labourers from the sub-continent living within the city and called on the government to build labour cities away from residential zones. 

People wishing to donate clothes or bedding can contact Helping Hands volunteers Gita Krishnan on +97339683130 or Shireen Ashraf on +97339402907.