MIRI: A seafood manufacturing factory and a workers’ hostel at Jalan Permaisuri here were destroyed in a fire around 6.30am yesterday.
According to one of the workers, known only as Kadasari, 45, he was washing rice in the kitchen of his hostel unit when he smelled smoke.
“I immediately went downstairs to check and was shocked to see the store room being engulfed in flames.
“The fire spread to other sections of the building very quickly and we were unable to save any of our belongings,” he said when met at the scene.
Kadasari who is also a fisherman said only him and two of his colleagues were at the hostel at the time of the incident.
Meanwhile, Miri Bomba chief Law Poh Kiong said 16 personnel from Miri and Lopeng Fire and Rescue stations were dispatched to the scene after receiving a distress call at 6.33am.
The firefighters arrived at the scene four minutes later and took almost two hours to bring the fire under control.
“The factory and hostel which is connected to one another, were razed to the ground while 25 per cent of the factory shop was destroyed,” said Law.
He added that one of the workers, an Indonesian national, suffered burns on his face and hands in the incident.
The cause of the fire and total loss were still under investigation, he said.
