50 evacuated in Kampung Tanjung Aru Baru fire

KOTA KINABALU: Fifty displaced victims were moved to a temporary evacuation centre (PPS) as of 8 pm last night, following a fire that razed 23 stilt houses in Kampung Tanjung Aru Baru, here, yesterday morning.

In a statement last night, the Sabah Disaster Management Committee secretariat said that the victims, from 13 families, were given shelter at PPS Dewan Luyang.

It said that the committee, together with the Malaysia Civil Defence Force and other parties involved, were updating the victims' data, among others, for management of aid distribution purposes, apart from the fact that there were still some victims who are registering at the PPS last night.

Apart from that, 39 victims from 13 families involved in a fire in the same water village on July 6 are still being housed at PPS Dewan Sembulan.

Yesterday's 4.32 am fire incident was the third one in a short period of time in the village. Previously, 33 houses went up in flames on May 25 and another 10 houses on July 6.

Meanwhile, Junaidi Elyas, 41, one of today's victims, said that he found out about the fire when his neighbour came pounding on his door to alert him to save his family as another neighbour's house was ablaze.

"I pulled my two children out of the house and summoned my wife to follow quickly. Then I went back in to save important documents and whatever small items that I could save. The rest went up in smoke," said Junaidi, who works as a security guard at a supermarket, here.

Housewife Norasmah Sani, 63, said that she also found out about the fire from the shouts of her neighbours. The fire was in a neighbour's house not far from hers.

"I alerted my husband and we ran out of the house. We also managed to save electrical and valuable items, but our house was destroyed. This is really sad because Aidiladha is just around the corner and we are really hoping for immediate help," she added.

-- BERNAMA