Fire Kills 13 Toddlers In Doha Shopping Mall

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16237099

Thirteen toddlers are among 19 people dead after a fire ripped through a large shopping centre in Doha, the Qatari government has said.

Seven girls and six boys were killed after the blaze broke out at a day care centre at the Villaggio mall earlier today.

They were aged between one and three and were trapped in the day care centre for more than two hours, local journalists who attended an official news conference told Sky News.

All of the dead were foreigners, who included Europeans and Japanese people. One Spanish family is said to have lost three children.

The casualties also included four female teachers and two firefighters.

"There don't seem to have been any fire alarms or sprinklers at the mall," a relative of a two-year-old child who died in the fire told the Reuters news agency.

Thick black smoke was seen billowing from the building at the height of the fire, which broke out at about 11am local time.

Some 17 people, including two children, were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. Many of those in the shopping centre when the alarm was raised were evacuated through the roof.

The flames were under control within hours. The cause of the fire is not known.

Brian Candy, a photographer who took pictures at the scene, told Sky News: "There were more emergency services than I've ever seen in my life in attendance... air ambulances coming and going.

"There was a lot of noise… noise of emergency services people shouting instructions, what sounded like women crying, wailing in fact. Truly, a very sad and disturbing sight."

The Italian-themed Villaggio, one of the biggest shopping centres in Qatar, opened in 2006 and has 220 stores as well as a funfair and ice-skating rink.

Many ex-patriates live in the oil-rich Gulf Arab state, which has one of the highest standards of living in the world.

More to follow...

Omg that's terrible ...three in one family and all off them just babies....and the building or complex was quite new yet no facilities in case off fire.....unbelievable .


Poor little babies

kitti wrote:Omg that's terrible ...three in one family and all off them just babies....and the building or complex was quite new yet no facilities in case off fire.....unbelievable .


Poor little babies

Awful, kitti, especially for that Spanish family who lost three children.

I can't stop crying when I watched the video off the triplets who are from new Zealand ...now they are dead, three beautiful babies playing in the video....gone...

Iv'e just been reading the latest Report on Sky and their report says the triplets were from New Zealand, there are photos of them , but I can't do
photos. It's a terrible terrible tragedy and how the Parents will cope with losing all their chidren is beyond me.

Panda wrote:Iv'e just been reading the latest Report on Sky and their report says the triplets were from New Zealand, there are photos of them , but I can't do
photos. It's a terrible terrible tragedy and how the Parents will cope with losing all their chidren is beyond me.

Lillie, Jackson and Willsher Weekes with their parents Martin and Jane

One Spanish family is also said to have lost three children.

So, 6 of the children are from just 2 families, the New Zealand triplets and the 3 Spanish children.

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16237274

Thanks AnnaEsse, I'ts hard to look art the photo, even harder for the Families, I just can't imagine what they must be going through.

This is so, so sad.
Sleep tight little ones xx
My thoughts are with all the families who will be suffering so much xx

6:37am UK, Wednesday May 30, 2012
Arrest orders have been issued for the owner of a shopping mall in Qatar and four others after fire swept through the complex killing 19 people, including 13 children.

The official Qatar News Agency said the Attorney General had also ordered the arrest of the owner of the Gympanzee nursery where the children and four workers died.

The others facing detention are officials at the Villaggio complex in Doha, a popular haunt for Qayar's tens of thousands of expatriate residents, including the director of security.

Sprinkler systems at the mall malfunctioned, bringing calls for sweeping safety and licensing reviews.

The young victims at the day nursery included two year-old triplets from New Zealand, Lillie, Jackson and Willsher Weekes, and four Spanish youngsters, three of them siblings.

In a statement, the triplets' parents, Martin and Jane Weekes, mourned the "sunshine in our world."

"Lillie, Jackson and Willsher came into this world together and were inseparable as siblings, best friends and the joy of our life," the couple said.

"Tragically they left together after only two short years. A time that was lived to the full everyday with us laughing, playing, waking us at all hours of the night and simply being the sunshine in our world."

On Tuesday more than 2,000 people attended the funerals of three Muslims killed in the blaze - a South African boy, a South African paediatric nurse and an Iranian firefighter.

Later in the evening, nearly 1,000 people attended a memorial mass in a church south of Doha for the four Spanish children among the dead.

Two neon lights placed above the altar displayed their names - Almudena, Alfonso, Camilo and Isabel.

"We are going home but I don't know when," said Camilo Travosedo, father of the three siblings, fighting back the tears.

An American girl of Arab origin, a Chinese boy, a Canadian girl and two Egyptian children, one of whom also had French citizenship, also died in the blaze.

Two firefighters, a Moroccan and an Iranian were killed, along with three women from the Philippines who worked at the nursery.

Qatari officials said the blaze started at or near the daycare centre and firefighters had to break through the roof to get to the 20 children who were trapped after a staircase to the first-floor facility collapsed.

Thick black smoke was seen billowing from the building at the height of the fire, which broke out at about 11am local time on Monday.

Some 17 people, including two children, were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. Many of those in the shopping centre when the alarm was raised were helped out through the roof.

The Italian-themed Villaggio, one of the biggest malls in Qatar, opened in 2006 and has 220 stores as well as a funfair and ice-skating rink. It has been closed indefinitely following the blaze.

New construction projects such as the Villaggio have transformed Doha in recent years, as the country has benefitted from huge gas and oil reserves.

The shopping centre is close to one of the venues for the 2022 World Cup.

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16238056

"Tragically they left together after only two short years. A time that was lived to the full everyday with us laughing, playing, waking us at all hours of the night and simply being the sunshine in our world."

Oh, that brought tears to my eyes......you have to wonder if these obviously loving Parents will ever get over their loss.