Doha, May 31 (IANS) A house belonging to an Indian family in Qatar was destroyed in a fire. The family, however, escaped unharmed, a media report said on Sunday.

The house located near Doha, in a villa compound with illegally partitioned residential units, caught fire likely due to an electrical short circuiting, Peninsula Qatar daily reported.

The husband was not at home at the time of the fire and he advised his wife and son to vacate the house with their passports, the daily said.

A civic official blamed illegally partitioned houses for the recent increase in house fires in the Doha region, according to the daily.