PETALING JAYA: When the sliding doors and windows at his double-storey house started shaking violently, Aidil Abd Ghafar thought an aftershock from the Myanmar earthquake had hit Malaysian soil.
He stepped out of his Putra Avenue house to check – only to have a blast of heat hit his face.
He saw a towering blaze from about 400m away, and only then did he realise that the intense heat and tremors came from a gas pipeline fire.
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The 57-year-old said he saw people who lived closer to the fire site were scorched by the heat.
Most of the victims who suffered serious burns were those who lived about 100m from the fire.
At his house, Aidil said, the heat melted all the plastic and rubber, including that in his car.
“We could take nothing with us,” said Aidil, who had been resting with his family on the second day of Hari Raya before the fire forced him to evacuate with his family.
Taking refuge: Fire victim Idanurulnabilah Samsudin (centre) with her three children resting at a temporary relief centre at Masjid Nurul Iman, Kampung Tengah Puchong.
“We have six cats but I only managed to take one along, while the rest were left behind.
“We saw people who lived closer to the fire site. Some were singed, while others were scorched, and they were scurrying to safety with injuries.
“Most of them who suffered serious burns were those living about 100m from where the fire broke out. We could see their skin had peeled off,” said the semi-retired media executive when met with his son Amri Rahmat, 35, at the Putra Heights Mosque, where dozens of evacuees sought shelter.
Aidil believes that the fire happened because of a lack of supervision at a row of shophouses being built near where the gas pipeline is.
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“That area should not have been disturbed,” he said.
IT executive Teoh Poh Hin, 59, who lived closer to the fire, said his house at Putra Avenue suffered major damage.
Teoh and his wife were oblivious to the fire until they heard noises and a strange-sounding wind.
“That was when we stepped out and saw the air was filled with dust and the intense heat. We ran from the house and were brought here in a van,” he said at the mosque.
A moment to breathe: Fire victim Ahmad Daniel sitting outside Hospital Putrajaya after receiving treatment. — Bernama
Teoh, too, suspects that the construction of the shoplots could have led to the fire.
“Over the last few days, the developers had dug a large hole nearby. I have lived here for 15 years and did not know there was a gas pipeline. I always thought it was a water pipeline,” he said.
Another affected resident, Melvin, and his wife Sheila fled with only the clothes on their backs when the heat became unbearable.
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“We escaped on foot before climbing over a large drain to the Elite highway and getting here,” he said at another evacuation centre at the Sri Maha Kaliamman temple in Putra Heights.
There were others, including children and old folk who were wheelchair-bound, who escaped the same way, he said.
Melvin, who works in the oil and gas industry, also said the construction of the shoplots was carried out too close to the gas pipeline.
Temple chairman Harvind Ananden said he could see the towering inferno nearby and felt the intense heat from the fire.
Evacuees and rescue personnel seen at the Sri Maha Kaliamman temple in Putra Heights. — Bernama
“We quickly opened our premises to victims and ambulances. The paramedics set up their base here to treat the injured.
“We have prepared food and drinks for them and we will keep the temple open for all evacuees as long as needed,” he said.
Aircraft engineer Lim Jit Keng, 57, was another who thought an earthquake aftershock had hit.
“I felt the house swaying. I looked outside and saw the canvas of my neighbour’s car had melted.
“Then I saw the massive fire reflected on my neighbour’s window,” he said.
Lim said he thought his roof was on fire, and he and his family evacuated the house immediately.
They are now currently at a friend’s house.
Another resident, university student Muhammad Faisal Dinie Mohd Zul-Fattah, 22, said he was woken up by what he thought was a sonic boom from an aircraft.
“The house was shaking and I thought there was an earthquake,” he said.
He, too, saw the fire’s reflection on the neighbour’s window when he looked out.
“I woke everyone up and rushed out of the house. The heat from the fire could be felt inside my house, and my steel gate was too hot to touch,” he said.
