Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2014-02-08

A fire at a Hotel in the holy city of Medina Munawwarah in Saudi Arabia has claimed the lives of fifteen pilgrims and injuring 130 others on Saturday.

The fire occurred at the Ishraq Al-Madina Hotel at 2:33 p.m.

Eyewitnesses said the victims were of different nationalities and included Egyptians and Turks.

Colonel Khaled al-Juhani, a Medina civil defence department official, told al-Youm newspaper that more than 110 security personnel battled to control the blaze.

Preliminary reports indicate that the fire occurred as a result of a short circuit during maintenance work at the hotel.

Thirty of the injured were treated on the spot, while others were sent to King Fahd Hospital and the Ansar Hospital. According to one report, Ansar received four bodies and 91 injured.

Most pilgrims died of suffocation.

"The fire resulted in the death of 15 … caused by fainting, choking, bleeding and cardiac arrest and breathing. We also treated 30 cases of suffocation due to the fire," said Mohammed Mahmoud Kheyat, spokesman for the Saudi Red Crescent in Medina Munawwarah.

Its reported that there were about 700 guests were in the hotel at the time the fire broke out.

An Indian pilgrim staying at a nearby building said she saw a huge plume of dark smoke coming out of the hotel as she was returning from Masjid un Nabawi (the Prophet’s Masjid) at around 2:45 p.m.

“We saw some people waving through the windows for help. We also saw several firefighters engaged in rescue operations. A large number of people had gathered in front of the hotel. It was a frightening scene,” she said.

There were conflicting reports about the number of Egyptian casualties.

Ahmed Zaki, an official at the Egyptian Consulate in Jeddah, said they had received information about the death of four Egyptians. Another report said that as many as 12 of the 15 victims were Egyptians.

Egyptian Ambassador Afifi Abdel-Wahab was quoted as telling an Egyptian television channel that “15 Egyptians died in the fire.”

Madinah Governor Prince Faisal bin Salman has been following up on the incident and has ordered hotel guests to be relocated.

An investigation to ascertain the cause of the fire has been launched. – Al-Arabiya & agencies.

(Twitter: @Faizie143)