20-year-old fashion designer dies in Deira fire

A young Indian expatriate died in a fire that engulfed his fourth floor flat when he was sleeping after his night duty.

Prejith Premanand, 20, who came to the UAE three months ago to work for the Al Shaya Group as a fashion designer, was fast asleep after his night duty when fire broke in his flat near the Sunrise Supermarket in Frij Murar, Deira, Dubai.

He succumbed to injuries after he failed to open the door which was locked from the outside and could not jump out of the building or locate the key to open the locked door.

According to eye witness accounts, Prejith (known as Kuttan) was doing night shift at the company's fashion design centre in Jebel Ali and came back in the morning from work. When other room mates were on day duty, he was sleeping in the flat.

“We could see smoke coming from the flat and when the intensity of smoke increased, we informed Civil Defence. The Civil Defence team came but due to narrow lanes leading to the building on fire, the Civil Defence tankers could not reach the spot. Prejith came to the balcony two or three times as he could not open the door lock and other room mates had left the place after locking the door from the outside,” said sources familiar with the fire incident. Three other residents share the small room with Prejith.

“Apparently he was coming to the balcony to seek help, but he was advised not to jump from the building because it would have been fatal. It seems he could not locate the key as he was fast asleep when the fire started,” sources added.

Neighbours alerted the Civil Defene about the fire at around 2.30pm on Monday and they reached the spot and controlled the fire.  However, the man who was sleeping in the flat was found dead,” said a resident of the adjacent building.

According to him, the deceased hails from Kasargod, Kerala, and came to the UAE on visit visa and found a job only three months ago. “When the Civil Defence team broke open the door, he was found dead. It is a very tragic death,” added his neighbour. Neighbours saw Prejith rushing to the balcony two or three times but he was prevented from jumping off the building to save his life.

An HR manager at the Al Shaya Group said the company is not aware of the incident and are trying to get details. Indian social workers are trying to repatriate the body after completing the formalities.