DUBAI, 11 November 2004 — Intense efforts were under way yesterday to defuse a crisis sparked by a fire that gutted a construction workers camp in Jebel Ali and destroyed their personal belongings on Monday.

Although the fire caused no casualties, local media focused on the safety aspect of labor camps in the country.

Three thousand workers, nearly half of them Indians, are demanding compensation from the company for their losses. Obeidullah Construction Company officials were quoted in the local press as saying they were “addressing the problem.”

The camp contained 200 plywood cabins, each housing an average of 15 workers. The fire is said to have been sparked by an electric short circuit in one of the cabins. A gas cylinder exploded and this spread the fire as workers watched their belongings — including the passports of many — go up in flames.

The total loss resulting from the fire was estimated to be about 3 million dirhams.

On Tuesday, the workers, alleging the absence of fire safety arrangements at the site, staged a demonstration on the nearby highway and blocked traffic for a few minutes to protest what they described as their employer’s apathy toward their plight.

Company officials said no one was hurt in the fire and that they were making arrangements for replacing the lost documents and were also providing interim relief.

There was no word on compensation for the losses that the workers suffered. Some were preparing to go home on annual leave and had their passports, savings and gifts for families destroyed in the fire.

A spokesman at the Dubai Civil Defense said that contractors who set up the plywood cabins were to be blamed for such accidents and they bear the legal responsibility.

“Inflammable materials should not be used to construct these facilities,” said the spokesman, indicating a number of standard precautions against fire that are frequently ignored.