Muscat: A major fire at the Rusayl Industrial Estate on Monday destroyed a unit that manufactures oil, air and fuel filters for all types of cars and heavy duty trucks.
Thirty five fire fighters and six fire engines battled the blaze till late on Monday night.
Although more than 70 workers were working at the Oman Filters Industry when the fire broke out, all of them were evacuated to safety on time.
The fire started in the warehouse, where automobile filters are produced. "We rushed fire engines as soon as we got the call but as the factory contained inflammable materials like rubber, papers and oil it took a long time to bring the fire under control," Colonel Ahmad Bin Mohammed Al Ajmi, Director of Civil Defence, said.
The timely action by firefighters avoided the fire spreading to the adjoining unit in the country's oldest industrial estate.
He said that the cause of the fire would be determined only after forensic investigations to be carried out jointly by Directorate General of Civil Defence and the Directorate General of Inquiries and Criminal Investigations.
In a separate incident, four shops and properties worth over 45,000 Omani riyals were gutted in old city area of Muttrah.
