Two girls, foreign woman die in house fire

A fire at a house in Kepong last night resulted in the deaths of two girls and a foreign woman, according to the Selangor Fire and Rescue Department.

The girls, Ng Zi Xuan, 10, and Lam Yan Yi, seven, and the woman, identified as Sok Srey, 29, were found dead on the top floor of the double-storey terrace house in Taman Wangsa Permai, said Selangor Fire and Rescue director Zamri Che Din.

He also said that three people were injured from burns suffered in the fire that occurred at about 11pm, they being a man, Shamsul Ng Abdullah, 58, and two women, Lam Chooi Lai, 36, and Wong Ah Yin, 81.

Zamri said the fire started on the ground floor, causing damage up to 80 per cent, and spread fast to the upper floor.

Some of the fire-fighters, from the Sungai Buloh and Selayang fire stations, climbed across from the balcony of the neighbouring house and rescued the three injured people, lowering them from the balcony with the help of neighbours, he said.

They also found the bodies of Zi Xuan, Yan Yi and Sok Srey on the upper floor, he said to reporters at the scene.

"The injured were sent to the Selayang Hospital and the bodies were taken to the Sungai Buloh Hospital," he said.

A neighbour, Cheok Liang Pho, 58, said he spotted the fire on the ground floor of the house and shook the metal gate to get the attention of the occupants.

"The occupants woke up as the fire started to spread to the upper floor," he said.

Another neighbour, vegetable-seller Chong Meng Kien, 53, said she was awakened from sleep upon sensing smoke and then felt the heat of the fire at the house adjacent to hers.

"I called out to the neighbours and also helped to put out the fire," she said. -- BERNAMA