Woman and nephew killed in Tenom blaze
Published on: Thursday, June 22, 2017
Tenom: A woman and her nephew perished in a fire which razed their Hardcore Poor Housing Project (PPRT) house in Pamaluiyan at the Kemabong sub-district, some 30 kilometres from the town centre here, Wednesday.The charred remains of Nariah Sapperi, 21, and her four-year-old nephew, Danza Darius, fondly known as Aboh, were found in the premises following the 8am tragedy. It was learnt that Nariah stayed in the house with her widowed mother who works as a kitchen helper at SMK Kemabong and Danza stayed with them temporarily because his parents were working in a factory in Kuala Lumpur.
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It was also learnt that the boy's parents had intended to bring him to Kuala Lumpur on July 4 and that the fire broke out when there were no neighbours around as everyone had gone out to tap rubber at their rubber estates. A witness, Redzuan Ahmad Sukry, 25, said he was only aware of the fire when passing his neighbour's house at about 8.10am after seeing thick smoke coming from the premises. He stopped his car and rushed to help but was unable to enter the house because of the smoke, prompting him to seek help from neighbours only to realise that everyone had already gone out to their rubber estates. "I was lucky to meet a friend, but there was nothing we could do except to call the Fire and Rescue Department for help," he said.
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Their 8.09am distress call prompted a team of 16 firefighters to the scene at about 8.39am. However, it was too late to save the cousins who were found in the living room.
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