Hundreds homeless in longhouse fire near Bakun Dam

Uma Bawang resettlement longhouse in Sungai Asap resettlement scheme near Bakun Dam on fire. - Bomba Sarawak pic

MIRI: Hundreds are believed to have been rendered homeless, following a fire in the Uma Bawang longhouse in the resettlement scheme near Bakun Dam.

The fire started at about 6pm Monday (April 15) in the longhouse located in the Sungai Asap Resettlement Scheme, some 50km from Bakun Dam in central Sarawak.

That longhouse is one of 15 resettlement longhouses built in 1996 to house the natives uprooted by the Bakun Dam construction.

Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department, in its latest updates said firefighters from the nearest town of Bintulu are rushing to the site.
Bintulu is 250km from Sungai Asap.

Bomba Sarawak said the exact number of victims have not been ascertained yet.

Uma Bawang has some 120 families living adjacent each other.