180 made homeless in Bakun longhouse fire

About 180 people were made homeless on Chinese New Year day yesterday after their longhouse at the Bakun Dam Resettlement Scheme in Sungai Asap, Belaga, about 800km north of here, was destroyed in a fire.

Belaga OCPD, DSP Bakar Sebau, who confirmed the case today, said no casualties were reported in the fire which took place at the Uma Kulit longhouse at about 10.30pm last night.

The police together with a group of voluntary fire fighters team from the settlement managed to prevent the fire from spreading to the other nearby longhouses, he said when contacted by Bernama here Monday.

He said based on their initial investigation, the fire could have have been sparked from a short circuit and that the victims claimed to have suffered losses estimated at around RM500,000.

The Uma Kulit longhouse was among one of the longhouses built to resettle villagers in the Belaga district who were affected by the construction of the Bakun hydro-electric project.