AMMAN — Five people, who suffered from smoke inhalation during a fire that claimed the lives of two children in a house in Zarqa on Friday, were discharged from hospital on Saturday, official sources said.
The five people and two children, all from the same family, were sitting in a room in their two-storey house in the Bireen area in Zarqa Governorate, a senior official Civil Defence Department (CDD) official said.
“Our investigation showed that there was a leak from a gas heater in the room which caused the fire,” the CDD official added.
The two children, both under the age of 10, suffered third degree burns and died instantly, he told The Jordan Times.
The five other family members suffered from smoke inhalation and were rushed to Prince Hashem Military Hospital, according to the source.
The official added that firefighters managed to control the blaze and prevented it from spreading to other parts of the house.
In late December, three people, including a woman with a disability, were killed in two separate incidents related to gas heaters in Irbid, some 80km north of Amman.
A 65-year-old woman with a disability was burned to death by a gas heater in her room in the basement of a building, with an initial investigation indicating that the victim was attempting to move the heater but could not because of her medical condition, and it overturned, causing a fire.
In the second incident in Irbid, an 85-year-old man and his 75-year-old wife died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to insufficient air circulation in their room where they had a gas heater on.
CDD officials have repeatedly warned that insufficient ventilation, leaving gas and kerosene heaters on overnight and filling heaters with kerosene while they are on are some of the major causes of accidents, in addition to failure to follow proper safety procedures.
