The acting General Director of Civil Defence has said that 13 people died in a fire in a three-storey building, which was being used as a labour camp, in the Makharqa area of Manama on Friday evening.

He said that Civil Defence teams rushed to the scene when the fire was reported at 3:44pm and reached there at 3:50pm. Several tenants were rescued while one Civil Defence official was injured when the roof collapsed. The fire was controlled before it could spread to nearby buildings and the bodies were taken out. A search of the building would continue.

He said the Public Prosecutor had been informed and it had assigned a team to the site. An investigation had also been initiated to find out the reason behind the fire.