Smoke billows as firefighters tackle a blaze at the Asima Tower, a skyscraper under construction, in Kuwait City on June 30. The fire which spread to nearby buildings, damaged many of them, according to the local fire department, with high temperatures and strong winds increasing its intensity. (AFP)

KUWAIT CITY, July 1: Twelve teams, which consisted of 180 firefighters, took part in taking out the fire that broke out in an under-construction building in Sharq area, causing injury to three of them, the Fire Public Relations Department said Friday.A statement by the administration said the operation center received a call at 15:30 pm (local time) of a fire in one of the under-construction buildings, an area spreading to 380,000 square meters. The statement noted that the biggest challenge firefighters faced was to prevent the fire from spreading to other buildings or areas that were nearby, even though the fire reached eight buildings due to high winds, however, firefighters were immediately on the scene, including teams from Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), to enforce fire resistance.The statement also noted that huge material damage has occurred and a final estimate on the losses will be calculated later on, due to undergoing investigation on the reason that caused the fire.For his part, the Director of Public Relations and Information at the fire department, Colonel Khalil Al-Amir expressed his thanks and appreciation to all who participated in putting the fire, including those from the Interior ministry, firefighters from the National Guard, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Information. (KUNA)