Predawn fire leaves more than 400 homeless

Devastating blaze: An aerial view showing the burnt stilt houses at Kampung Cendera­mata in Bati Sapi area in Sandakan. — Bernama

KOTA KINABALU: More than 400 people have been left homeless after a predawn fire blazed through 90 wooden stilt houses at a water village in Sabah’s east coast Sandakan.

No casualties were reported in the 3am fire at the sprawling squatter village of Kampung Cenderamata in Bati Sapi area yesterday.Sandakan Zone 6 Fire and Rescue Department chief Jasri Abd Jal said the fire spread rapidly through the close-spaced wooden houses in the water village with over 200 homes.