[YouTube]
This fire happened on Wednesday and resulted in two dead woman and 64 injured. What I found shocking is this:
Relatives of the women initially blocked firefighters from entering the wedding hall, an action that some suggest may have contributed to the disaster. According to an eyewitness, when firemen first arrived at the scene, they were prevented from entering the hall by some men (apparently relatives of some of the women inside) on the grounds that it was an all-women place. “You can’t get in,” they shouted.
According to eyewitnesses, the hall was filled with smoke at first, which frightened the guests. They panicked and a stampede broke out when flames began to engulf the area.
Witnesses added that what aggravated the situation was the fact that many women who were trying to flee the scene, stopped to put on their veils and head covers. They also said that the hall accommodated 220 women and children. [Kuwait Times]
Thanks Kuwait Black Market!
23 replies on “Jahra Wedding Hall Blaze”
sad but it happens a lot here
Now what is more disturbing.Having your loved one seen without a veil or burning to death?Can someone please clear this up for me?
I am guessing they didn’t realize how dangerous the situation was
Thanks a lot Mark for posting this
now we know whos incharge for this
This is Strange ..
The fire didnt reach the chairs .. It seems only the backstage where the damage was .
how the hell ended up that way ?!
shame.. their destiny..
allah yer7amhum o yshafeehum.
I dont think this needs to be publicised in any way whatsoever! Let the law take its own course and serve as a deterrent to others; if, God forbid, such an incident takes place again… R.I.P.
how thin is the line between… between common sense and doctrine !
@ nyx: why not publicize such news? do you just wanna keep the people in the dark without knowing anything? Open your mind for a bit.
and why is it that you’re jumping to conclusion that this has to be taken into court for the law to serve its justice? Haven’t you heard of natural disasters? electrical malfunctions? or is it because this country is so used to questioning every minister for the stupidest things?
Stafa:
Am amazed; you followed me here as well, :P!
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but this will find its way to the court and investigators will have a field day ascertaining the cause of the fire. I think they do it all the time (in every country actually), unless you dont think a fire is a crime scene where people have actually lost lives!
And remarking on your grilling the MPs or Ministers, is something every parliament follows; havent you heard of Congressional Hearings and the House of Commons holding a questions and answer session on ‘a’ particular MP??
And lets not get personal by asking me to open my mind… after this post of mine, I am of the firm belief that you’ll be the one deciphering who needs to open minds.
Have an awesome evening…
And by publicize I meant; this is a blog where bloggers have free speech and sometimes some one creeps up and passes untowards remarks, without realising the gravity of the issue, i.e. people lost lives and scores got injured!
why does everything posted here have to turn into a battle of opinions
The difference but ignorance and stupidity.
“..According to an eyewitness, when firemen first arrived at the scene, they were prevented from entering the hall by some men (apparently relatives of some of the women inside) on the grounds that it was an all-women place. “You can’t get in,” they shouted…”
is that how stupid those people are it’s a fire for God sake…WTF!!!! OMG!!! WHY???
Fires happen – it is a tragedy but the fact of the matter is the Hall didn’t have enough fire exits, fire extinguishers, sprinklers and so forth. The fact of the matter is this, had the building been build *up to standard international codes* there would have been many fewer casualties.
The fire dept. must be involved by law in the specs and technical aspects concerning any new edifices and this must be enforced by Municipality and other relevant bodies.
The MPs, citizens of Jahra and the media have been demanding for years that another major hospital be built in Jahra – which has almost 500,000 citizens – they also only have one fire station which supposedly was built decades ago.
Jahra hospital couldn’t handle the casualties, and many were taken to Farwaniya and Sabah Hospital. Is this the way Kuwait – a rich country is supposed to take care of its citizens?
The government is at fault here not ‘veils.’
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at how stupid this situation is. So fucking pathetic.
This is really sad
Every time I attend a wedding or a large gathering here, I look for the exits. I went to one wedding at a hall in Omariya that held approximately 200 people – in a basement hall. There was only one tiny corridor in and out.
“Planning” is not a common task in Kuwait. There aren’t enough fire investigators to go around (we have bars on the back windows of our office – totally against the law; however, the fire inspector in our area was paid off to look the other way).
Unnecessary death and dismemberment don’t have much to do with “destiny” when God gave each of us free will and a brain. Destiny comes into play when you have used both to the best of their capabilities.
Further, had I been one of the women inside the hall in Jahra and found out that my husband/brother/father had stopped firefighters from entering, I would have beat the living crap out of him. Didn’t a similar event take place at a girl’s school in Pakistan for similar reasons?
There’s an Egyptian saying that fits: Elee e’3tasho, mato.
It means: Those who were shy, died.
May God have mercy upon their souls, and those idiots who blocked the firemen.
Bedoun Idiots. What do you expect?
This is not shocking, this is expected.
Do you really expect from women usually covered in black from head to toe to leave the building wearing almost nothing (and I mean nothing but all human standards). This is not Saudi Arabia or the UAE where women are forced to cover themselves and those women wearing what they are wearing by their will.
The problem is with the building and who ever allowed such a building to be built and used for such events without proper maintenance, fire checks, and having proper fire alarms and fire escapes.
This disaster could have been easily solved if there were fire exists in the building, if there were water sprinklers, and most importantly and the cheapest of all… fire alarms.
in a decent country before an even that have people gathering – no matter how small it is – even if it was just twenty people meeting at an office, there would usually be an instruction about the location of the fire exists and hospitality people who have knowldge of how to use the fire extinguisher.
this accident is not a failure of the first responders or the people who blocked them… this is far greater than that.
This is what this so called liberal country has come to… Let the women burn to death rather than GOD FORBID be seen by some one outside the family… Please note my sarcasam. Oil gave this country material wealth and a chance at a modern education yet they live in the stone age.
You all should be ashamed of your selves for saying all this about thoes poor people whom have died,if only it your mother,sister,daughter,wife..or anyone dear was one of the victimes you sure wouldnt be talking in such mockery…
This was Gods will and it has absloutly nothing to do with thoes ppl’s mentalty about being covered up or not.