An Indian couple who perished in the deadly flat fire in Dubai that claimed 16 lives was cooking an iftar feast for their neighbours.
For their Muslim neighbours to break their fast on Saturday evening, Rijesh Kalangadan, 38, and his wife Jeshi Kandamangalath, 32, both from Kerala, were cooking Vishusadhya, a meal associated with the Hindu harvest festival.
The fire in the Al Ras neighbourhood claimed at least 16 lives and injured nine others. Dubai Civil Defence blamed the incident on a failure to adhere to building security and safety regulations.
Ms Kandamangalath worked as a teacher, while Mr Kalangadan was a business development manager for a travel and tourism company.
On Saturday, the pair were celebrating Vishu. According to the Gulf News, they had invited their Muslim neighbours, a group of bachelors from Kerala, for iftar while preparing Vishusadhya, a vegetarian holiday feast eaten on a banana leaf.
The couple that resided in flat 406, which is close to flat 405 where the fire began, was quite pleasant, according to Riyas Kaikambam, who shared a room with seven other people in flat number 409.
The couple used to invite Kaikambam and his roommates during their festivals.
“They had invited us during Onam and Vishu lunches earlier also. This time, they told us to come for iftar as it is Ramzan.” Kaikambam said he last saw the couple outside their apartment. “I could see the teacher was crying,” he recalled, adding that the couple went back into their studio flat.
“There was no response to calls later. I could see Rijesh’s last seen status on WhatsApp at 12.35 pm. I just can’t believe the man who helped me book my flight ticket for Sunday, the man who invited me for iftar, is gone (along with his wife).” His roommate Suhail Kopa, who was not home during the fire, said: “We are so devastated about losing our neighbours. They are people whom we used to meet and greet every day. It is heartbreaking to think of going to live in the same place where we lost 16 neighbours, some of whom were close to us.” The Dubai Civil Defence Operations Room was notified about the fire at 12.35 pm on Saturday, officials said.
After reaching the scene of the fire, a crew from the Dubai Civil Defence HQ started removing residents from the structure.
Additionally, teams from the Hamriyah and Port Saeed fire stations were called.
According to the newspaper, the flames were doused by 2:42 PM (local time). The civil defence squad used cranes to rescue the people on the third storey at around 3 o’clock.
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