Pinoy couple hurt in Saudi oil company fire –DFA

A Filipino couple was among those hurt in the fire that hit an oil workers' residential compound in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, last August 31, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday.

The couple was hurt after they jumped out of the Radium Residential Complex to escape the fire that claimed the lives of 10 people, according to DFA spokesman Charles Jose.

The couple's children, however, were not injured.

"The mother sustained injuries and is confined in Aramco," Jose told GMA News Online in a text message. "The father had minor bruises in his feet while the children had no injuries at all."

No further details or names were issued.

The Civil Defense agency said three Canadians of Asian origins, a Pakistani, and a Nigerian woman were among the 10 fatalities, while 259 others were injured in the incident.

A Reuters report said based on initial findings, one of the cameras showed that the cause of the fire was an electric mass in a transformer in the basement where the fire burned 70 parked vehicles and sent smoke to the upper floors of the complex.

Saudi national oil company Saudi Aramco did not identify the nationalities of those killed from the fire
 
According to Saudi Aramco's website, the Radium Residential Complex consists of eight six-storey buildings and comprises 486 units.

Aramco has more than 61,000 employees, many of them expatriates, runs several private gated communities.
 
Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil exporter and Aramco produces roughly one in eight barrels of the world's oil supply.  —KBK, GMA News

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