There was a fire on Saturday at a girls school in Jeddah. Exits were found to be blocked - possibly because the girls remove their abayas once in the building, and must therefore be locked in and isolated from the eyes of the world - so some of those trapped inside the building had to jump from a third-floor window to escape. Two teachers died and a number of girls were treated in hospital.
The fire was covered by Arab News - mainly in relation to the onlookers. The crowds of spectators got in the way of the emergency services, apparently. Also, controversially, someone filmed the incident, and the resultant YouTube went viral. [Mick Hartley] Read more
