KUALA LUMPUR: The victims of the recent gas pipeline fire were deeply moved by the visit of His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, the King of Malaysia, to the temporary relief centre at the Masjid Putra Heights Multipurpose Hall.
Siti Nurfatimah Norrashid, 34, expressed her heartfelt gratitude to His Majesty for personally presenting the cash assistance to the heads of affected households.
"In my entire life, I've never had the privilege of meeting the King, but today, Sultan Ibrahim visited us and presented his contribution.
"We are truly touched and grateful for the aid, which helps ease our financial burden, especially with my three children aged between eight months and 13 years,” she told Bernama.
Siti, who runs a frozen food business with her husband, said they incurred losses of approximately RM100,000, including the destruction of their entire inventory and seven chest freezers.
She said the blaze started about five minutes after her family had left their house.
"We are extremely grateful to have escaped unharmed despite losing both our home and source of income," she said.
Meanwhile, another victim, Shaharnidawati Rahmat, 51, said she was grateful to Sultan Ibrahim for the generous donation and was deeply touched by Sultan Ibrahim’s visit on Saturday (April 5).
"I sincerely thank His Majesty for his compassion and for providing this financial assistance to us," said Shaharnidawati, who lives with her daughter and son-in-law.
Earlier on Saturday, the King presented financial aid through the Sultan Ibrahim Foundation to 308 affected heads of households, with each recipient receiving RM1,000.
Sultan Ibrahim arrived at the relief centre at 10.22am, accompanied by the Raja Muda of Selangor, Tengku Amir Shah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.
Also present were Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar, and Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay.
The fire at the PETRONAS gas pipeline, which occurred at 8.10 am on Tuesday (April 1), saw flames soaring over 30 metres with temperatures reaching 1,000 degrees Celsius. It took nearly eight hours for the blaze to be fully extinguished.
A total of 87 homes were completely destroyed and rendered uninhabitable, while 148 other homes were damaged but deemed to be still livable after repairs.- Bernama
