In Oman, 10 members of single family die in house fire

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Police in Oman say 10 members of a single family have died after suffocating in a fire at their home in the sultanate.

The Royal Oman Police said on Twitter on Thursday that the fire happened at a home in the village of Khor al-Hamam in the country’s Saham region.

Omani civil defence officials say firefighters found the dead after responding to the fire in the village, some 165 kilometres, or about 100 miles, northwest of Oman’s capital, Muscat. The village sits along the country’s coast with the Gulf of Oman.

Both police and civil defence officials say the family suffocated in the smoke from the fire. The police have asked families in the country to install smoke detectors in their homes.