Fire breaks out at Menara Tradewinds, 70 firefighters dispatched

KUALA LUMPUR: A fire broke out at Menara Tun Razak along Jalan Raja Laut here, trapping five foreign construction workers in thick brown smoke.

As the building was being renovated and elevators not fuctioning, firefighters had to use the stairs to reach the victims trapped on the thirtieth floor.

"Firefighters took one-and-a-half hours to reach the victims and bring them down the stairs.

"The fire started on the twenty-seventh floor when workers were cutting the air-conditioning ducts using an oxy-acetylene torch which ignited the duct insulation," City Fire and Resuce Department deputy director Azizan Ismail told reporters at the scene on Wednesday.

The fire then spread to the thirtieth floor through the duct system.

He said an emergency call was received at 4.47pm and the first fire engine arrived three minutes later.

A total of eight fire engines with 70 firefighters from seven stations were dispatched.

Azizan added that workers had earlier failed to put out the fire using fire extinguishers and escaped from the building.

However, five other workers were trapped and they had broken windows to get fresh air.

The five worker walked out with the help of firefighters at about 6.45pm and were then rushed to the hospital.

Azizan said besides the lack of elevators, other difficulties were the low water pressure in the building's wet riser system.

Water had to be pumped up to the affected floors by fire engines.