Monday 28 / July / 2025
Muscat: A flat in a building opposite the Oman Commercial Centre, popularly known as OC Centre in downtown Ruwi was gutted by a fire that started at around 8.45am yesterday.
Fire engines and emergency services rushed to flat number 51 on the fifth floor of Hussam Towers in Ruwi when they were alerted about the incident.
Rented out by a long-time resident of the building, Jinesh Prasad Mishra, the flat caught fire in the early hours of the morning with their only child, a daughter, who is in grade 9, being at home because of the Diwali holidays, while both Mishra and his wife were at work.
“The daughter came to my house and knocked on the door, she told me there was a fire,” said Jayachandran, a neighbour who lives on the same floor. “I entered their house and saw the curtains and half the bed was on fire.”
“I immediately went back home and brought my fire extinguisher, but it was of no use. I then used another extinguisher but that didn’t help either. Then I tried to throw a bed sheet of mine over the fire, but that too didn’t stop the blaze.”
Engineers from Muscat Electricity Distribution Company (MEDC) were also alerted to cut power of the building before fire fighters went in to extinguish the blaze.
Although the fire only affected one flat, the corridor of the fifth floor also suffered some damage.
Another neighbour, Ijaz Sheikh said the fire had trapped residents of two apartments on the sixth floor of the building. Emergency services rescued the five inhabitants of these two flats and admitted them to hospital for minor burns, though there was no serious harm done.
“Because of the smoke and the fire, the people who lived in the flat above the one which had caught fire had become trapped. The fire services used a crane to get them out of there, and they have all been taken to hospital, but nobody has been seriously harmed.”
This was confirmed by the Sultanate’s Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA), who are yet to determine the cause of the fire.
“An investigation is still ongoing as to what caused the fire, and will take time to resolve,” a PACDA official stated.
The head of the household, a distraught Mishra had driven back from Rusayl, his place of work, when he was notified of the fire. “I have just come back from the office and I also need to see the extent of the damage to my flat. I am unsure as to what the next step will be because I will need to talk to the owner of the building about this.”
“Fortunately for me, all of our important documents and passports are safe and my family is safe as well.”
The Times of Oman also spoke to the owner of the building, “The fire caused five people to be admitted to the hospital, but they are fine now and have already returned to the building. The family has already been moved to new apartment in the building.
“But we cannot do anything further until the investigation is finished because the building is insured. Once they have conducted the investigation, we can start rebuilding the flat but until then, we cannot touch the flat because the authorities need to know the reason for the fire.”
