KUANTAN, May 18 — About 13 hectares of peat forest near the 1Malaysia Civil Servants housing area here caught fire at about 7pm yesterday.

Deputy director of the Pahang Fire and Rescue Department Mohd Sani Harun said as of 7pm today, the department had so far managed to put out the fire in about nine hectares of the land.

Two fire engines from Taman Tas and Kuantan fire stations were rushed to the location after receiving a call at 7pm yesterday.

"Efforts are still ongoing to extinguish the blaze in the remaining four hectares of the forest,” he said when contacted here today. — Bernama