Massive Fire Broke In Oman, Supermarket, Factory Gutted

By Riyaz Hussain | Muscat

A massive fire broke out in Ghala industrial area yesterday, resulting in a loss of property and goods worth nearly 240 crores, sources claimed.

A warehouse belonging to a supermarket and a plastic manufacturing unit in a single compound in the Ghala industrial area were reduced to ashes within hours in the early morning blaze.

"The fire broke out at around 1:30am in the warehouse. Then it spread to the plastic manufacturing unit. As both the units had inflammable items, the fire started to spread beyond control. Initially, three units of firefighters reached the site and when they realised that extra help was needed, more firefighting units were rushed to the scene.
Till 6:30am, nearly 20 firefighting units had been pressed into action to contain the fire," the sources in Ghala said.

According to Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA), it took firefighters around 10 hours to fully contain the fire. "There are no causalities," they added.

An official of the plastic manufacturing unit said the loss will be to the tune of  OMR10 million.

"The warehouse might have suffered a loss of 100 crores approximately and our loss will be between 50-60 crores. The actual amount is yet to be calculated. We are working on that," the senior official said. "Within hours, both the units were reduced to ashes," the official added.

As both the units had inflammable items in stock, especially the plastic manufacturing unit, the fire left heavy smoke billowing from the area which was visible from quite some distance from the accident area.

According to the sources, the firefighters put up a brave fight to get into the warehouse and the plastic manufacturing unit to douse the fire. "The firefighters were using huge cranes to spray water. It was a daredevil act," witnesses told INN Live.

"It seems that this is the biggest fire to have ever occurred in Oman," another witness said, adding that the entire area was polluted due to the smoke emitting from the burning plastic. "We all experienced difficulty in breathing," he added.