‘Too many lives were lost’ says neighbour of house fire victims

AMMAN — Civil Defence Department (CDD) officials on Tuesday said investigations are ongoing to determine the cause of a fire that killed four family members in Amman, two days ago.

On Sunday, a fire broke out at a  house in Jabal Ashrafieh at dawn causing the immediate death of two sisters, aged 23 and 19, as a result of smoke inhalation, a senior CDD official said.

Two other family members, the official told The Jordan Times, the 42-year-old mother and her 9-year-old daughter “died at [the] hospital from carbon monoxide poisoning”.

“A special committee is still investigating the cause of fire and waiting for results from samples taken from the house,” the CDD official added.

A 65-year-old relative told The Jordan Times that the father of the family, his son and his seven-year-old girl remained hospitalised.

“The child’s condition is very critical, while the father and son are listed in critical condition,” the relative said.

She added that an older son was out of the house at the time of the incident.

Meanwhile, a 52-year-old relative told The Jordan Times that they were alerted to the fire at around 1am, after hearing a scream.

“We went to check [on] the matter and saw flames and smoke coming from the house of the victims, who are our neighbours,” the woman said.

She added that she immediately contacted the CDD who arrived quickly and extinguished the fire but, “the entire family suffered from smoke inhalation”.

“It seems they were all trapped inside since the fire was started in the room adjacent to the main entrance of the house,” the woman explained.

She added: “We are all in total shock. Too many lives were lost in less than 48 hours. To me it is like a dream.”