Uyghur Man's Agony After Five Relatives Died In Urumqi Fire

Beijing, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Nov, 2022 ) :When a deadly fire broke out in China's northwest Xinjiang region, triggering a wave of public anger over the country's zero-Covid policy, Abdulhafiz Maimaitimin initially could not believe that it claimed five of his relatives lives.

Ten people were killed and nine injured when the blaze ripped through a residential building in the regional capital Urumqi on Thursday night, with many blaming lengthy lockdowns for hampering rescue efforts.

The tragedy spurred an outpouring of anger in Urumqi which has since swelled into a wave of large-scale protests and candlelit vigils in several major cities across China.

Much of Xinjiang has been locked down for three months, as the remote region battles an uptick in Covid cases that have also surged nationwide.

Maimaitimin, 27, now living in exile in Switzerland, was stunned when he heard through a friend about the deaths of his 48-year-old aunt, Haiernishahan Abdureheman, and four of her children aged between four and 13.

"My arms and legs shook and I felt dizzy, I wanted to throw up. I couldn't understand it," Maimaitimin, a member of the Muslim Uyghur minority, told AFP from his home in Zurich.

He lost contact with his aunt in May 2017, while Xinjiang was in the grip of a widespread security crackdown which saw an estimated million Uyghurs arbitrarily detained in prisons and internment camps, some simply for speaking to relatives overseas.

"She was a housewife, her whole life was devoted to taking care of her kids and educating them well," he said, bursting into tears.

"Five years later I really could not imagine I would hear about my relatives in this way."A photo of his aunt verified by Maimaitimin shows her sitting beside her four young children on a couch in a beautifully decorated living room.

"Now I still feel terrible, I can't cope," he said.