KOTA KINABALU: A teenager and her grandmother perished after a house here went up in flames early Tuesday (May 20) morning.
In the early morning incident, Joeynita Abdul Alip, 15, who was sleeping in the same room as her grandmother Ruslia@Gisis Guntamas, 80, was believed to have been stuck in the burning house as the flames were already too strong.
“Parts of the house started falling apart as well,” cried Joeynita’s aunt Dymnaira Vintos, 26, who was among four survivors of the incident.
She said when the fire broke out, it was her father who first realised they were in grave danger.
“He saw fire coming from the kitchen area and shouted for us to get up and get out. He went round waking all of us up, as far as I know,” she said when met at the scene.
Dymnaira said as they got out, she and her sister realised that their niece and the elderly lady were still inside and tried to turn back to get them out.
“However, the flames were too strong and parts of the house had collapsed so we could not enter,” she said, breaking down further.
Dymnaira and three others escaped the blaze but Joeynita and Ruslia did not make it out alive.
Earlier, State Fire and Rescue Department director Mohd Pisar Aziz said initial information showed that all victims were asleep when the fire broke out.
A member of the family who had smelt smoke woke up to the fire, alerting the other members to get up and get out, he said.
They tried putting out the fire on their own but to no avail, he said.
Mohd Pisar said the cause of the fire was still under investigation, but cautioned the public to be alert of their electrical appliances and other fire hazards at home.
He said both deceased victims have been sent to the hospital for post mortems while the other relatives received outpatient treatment.
