Short circuit believed to be cause of Muar house fire that killed four children

Firemen assessing the burnt house in Kampung Sabak Awor, Muar which killed four young children aged three, four, six and eight.

MUAR: The house fire that killed four young children in Kampung Sabak Awor here was believed to have been started by an electrical short circuit.

Muar OCPD Asst Comm Raiz Mukhliz Azman Aziz said the short circuit could have occurred in the kitchen area and investigations were still ongoing by the police and Fire and Rescue Department to determine the actual cause of the fire.

"When the blaze was reported at 7.49pm Wednesday (March 29), the children’s 31-year-old mother had gone to a nearby shop to buy their essential items while their father, a 30-year-old Myanmar national, was also out working at a restaurant.

"The mother said that she was only out for around 10 minutes when she received a call from a neighbour alerting her about the fire.

"However, by the time she rushed home, the fire was already raging and she was unable to enter the house to get to her children," he said in a press conference at the scene.

According to her, they had no television and similar electrical appliances at home, ACP Raiz Mukhlize said, adding that she left the lights on before heading out.

When the Fire and Rescue Department arrived at the scene at 8.10pm, the fire had already burned about 80% of the house in Lorong Haji Muhammad, Jalan Ismail.

ACP Raiz Mukhliz said firemen put out the fire within minutes before conducting a search for victims and found the unconscious bodies of the three, four, six and eight year-olds in the bathroom.

The children were pronounced dead at the scene by a medical team.

"Some of the neighbours said they heard screams coming from the house during the fire, so we believe the children were still conscious when it happened.

"The bodies of the two boys and two girls were sent to Hospital Muar for postmortem to determine the cause of death," he said.