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Arson not ruled out in Gulf & Safa Dairies fire

Market sources noted that the company registered poor viability of its products in the emerging competitive dairy market of the UAE. It had recently re-worked on its packaging for an improved brand identity and better outreach of its products in the local market.

The company's managing director, Qassim Mohammed, was not available for comment.

Meanwhile, official estimation of the financial losses caused by the fire which broke out at around 10.15am in the main store on the mezzanine floor, containing dairy packing materials and refrigerators, is still under way, a reliable source from the investigating team revealed.

The source, however, said the loss could be more than Dh30 million.

Thecompany is not owned by one shareholder; it has several shareholders, including Qassim Mohammed.

It is learnt that the factory was fully covered with a major insurance company. A forensic team visited the site on Friday and collected debris samples as a part of their preliminary investigation.

When Khaleej Times contacted the insurance company, an official said, "The Gulf and Safa Dairies Company LLC, established in 1964 , was fully insured. The insurance company will decide on the claim only after the investigation is completed. If the investigation proves that the fire erupted because of negligence or arson, we will not pay the claim amount."

" The plant was certified with the quality standard ISO 9002 certification and the products were being sold in the UAE and also in India. The insurance company will wait for the reports from the investigation team before making any further move," he added.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, a source from the Civil Defence said: "The forensic laboratory experts rushed to the site to collect the samples immediately after they were informed about the massive blaze. The Civil Defence has nothing to do with the investigation. Our duty is to control and douse the fire."

" An expert team of Dubai Police equipped with necessary tools to determine the cause of the fire is carrying out the investigation," he added.

When asked whether the factory was equipped with preventive fire safety equipments such as a fire alarm and fire extinguisher on its premises, the source said that the investigation was still under way and it was too early to disclose any details.

"We will give a report to the authorities concerned soon," he noted, declining to comment further whether the company had followed all the stipulated safety measures as per factory laws and regulations.

Meanwhile, fire fighters continued to be present on the gutted factory site yesterday, carrying out post-fire operations.

Smoke billowed yesterday morning from several areas gutted by the massive fire.

A fire fighter told Khaleej Times that "even though we controlled the fire within a few hours on Friday, flames and smoke still continued to erupt."

" We are still pumping water to avoid the chance of any further blaze," he disclosed.

One of the workers said, " We still don't know what happened. The massive blaze spread over the entire factory within five minutes and we all rushed out of the premises to save our lives."

When asked whether any inflammable chemicals were being used in the factory, the worker refused to speak, stating he has been instructed by the company management to be tight lipped about the incident

About 400 workers were instructed to stay back in their labour camp yesterday until further notice. " We don't know anything about our company's future plans. We are worried about our future and have no clue if will lose our jobs", the worker however stated.

• UAE