A fire gutted an apartment on the fifth floor of a six-story girls hostel in Makkah today, causing breathing difficulties and panic but no deaths or injuries, authorities said.
In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency, the Civil Defense Department said the heavy smoke stranded tens of students inside their apartments but most of them found their way to fresh air. However 23 suffered breathing difficulties or terror and four received medical treatment at a medical evacuation center, the statement added.
Investigations showed that a fire caught the entrance of one of the apartments at the fifth floor of Umm Alqura University girl students boarding house, causing heavy smoke to fill the rest of the six story residence, police said.
