BINTULU: A 40-year-old Filipino woman and a 12-year-old boy with disabilities lost their lives in a double-storey house fire in Fortune Park, Lorong Kuini here this morning (Feb 17).
The State Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) in a statement said the victims, identified as Marites and the young boy, were believed to have been renting one of the two units in the affected premises.
Upon receiving a distress call at 4.05am, firefighters from the Bintulu fire station rushed to the scene to find two terraced houses engulfed in flames.
The fire had completely destroyed the first house and partially damaged the second.
The statement said the victims were trapped on the top floor of the first house and could not be rescued. Medical officers later confirmed their deaths at the scene.
The bodies of the victims were removed from the scene and handed over to the police for further action.
Fortunately, a 56-year-old male tenant from the first house and nine individuals from the second house managed to escape unharmed.
Firefighters worked swiftly to bring the blaze under control by 4.43am, but the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The two units were believed to have been rented out to a number of families and individuals.
