The woman’s 15-year-old son was rescued by civil defence personnel and is being treated for burns and suffocation.

Brigadier Salih Al Matroushi, Director-General of the Ajman Civil Defence, said the mother had called the civil defence emergency unit before the fire consumed her family. “Her voice died out quickly and the address she gave was not right,” he said. “The fire fighters tried to call her again and she didn’t respond and they managed to find the house by following the smoke.”

The call was made at around 8.56am when the fire is believed to have started.

The cause of the fire is not known and forensic experts are investigating the incident.

Civil defence officials found the charred bodies of the woman and an Ethiopian and Indonesian maid on the ground floor of the villa and preliminary investigations indicate the fire may have been sparked
off here.

Bodies of the three girls aged 17, 14 and 11 were found on the second floor in their bedroom, said Al Matroushi. The boy was rescued from the second floor. “We have moved the bodies to the forensic laboratory of the Ajman police to help in the investigations,” he said.

Al Matroushi said that the mother’s last act was to help save her family and this qualified her to be martyr in this holy month of Ramadan. He said the civil defence was planning to introduce a GPS system that would identify the location of a caller to enable fire-fighters locate fires easily.

Brigadier Ali Alwan, Director-General of the Ajman Police, said: “We have sent fire experts, including some from Dubai, to help investigate and establish the cause of the fire.’’

Funeral prayers for the Emirati family were held at the Shaikh Zayed Mosque in Ajman last 
evening.