Firecracker Factory on Fire

"Hello". Groggily I answered my cellphone. My morning call came at 7.30am today and after saying mushy goodmornings I reluctantly sat up in bed, looked out my window and what I saw made me more alert than my morning coffee would have.

Photo taken at 7.58am:

Photo taken at 9.15am:

Billows of thick black smoke in the horizon. PANIC!.. with images from recent movies I've been feeding on still fresh on my mind - War of the Worlds, Amargeddon, Jericho etc I rushed out of bed, grab my laptop and went online to see what the hell was going on.

LARGE FIRE HITS AL QUOZ INDUSTRIAL AREA OF DUBAI

Yep... that's wat the headlines read this morning. For a minute there I thought one of the buildings under construction caught fire. But it turned out to be a firecracker factory. There are reports of injury and one death so far but no official numbers yet.

Somehow it reminds me of that fire tragedy in 1991 at Bright Sparklers fireworks factory in Sg Buloh Malaysia where 22 people died and some 100 others injured.

I'm awaiting the official reports on what actually happened at this fire in Al Quoz. Not only has it marred the skyline and added to the dust already contributed my the scores of buildings under construction, it has claimed lives.. unnecessarily.

Anyway, here's an extract of that news today from Gulfnews.com:

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/03/26/10200462.html
03/26/2008 09:32 AM Alia Altheeb, Staff Reporter

Dubai: At least one person has died after a huge blast rocked the Al Quoz industrial area early on Wednesday. A large black cloud of smoke could be seen billowing into the air following what witnesses say was a large explosion which shook windows in the surrounding area. An RTA technician Ameer Pineda, who was on his way to work, saw the explosion. "I was terrified. My ears popped and I thought it was a bomb." Police sources say the fire occurred in a firecracker warehouse, although this has yet to be confirmed.All routes towards the industrial area have been closed off.There are a number of injuries but it is unclear how many.Residents nearby said they had heard a large explosion nearby which shook windows. It is still unclear what has caused the fire.