KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 — The Selangor Fire and Rescue Department rescued six siblings who almost lost their lives in a fire at a unit in Idaman Apartment, Damansara Damai, Petaling Jaya today.

Selangor Fire and Rescue Department Operations Division assistant director Ahmad Mukhlis Mukhtar said the children, aged between two and 11, were left in a locked house because their parents went to the hospital.

He said the department received a distress call at 11.15am and firefighters from the Sungai Buloh station were dispatched to the scene.

"The firefighters had to cut open the front grille door to get into the house and saw that the couch in the living room was on fire.

"The team immediately extinguished the fire and found six children — four girls and twin boys — inside the house. Initial information is that the children were left at home because their mother took their father to seek treatment for heart disease at a nearby hospital,” he said in a statement today.

He said the fire did not involve the structure of the building.

All the children escaped unhurt and the cause of the fire is still under investigation, he said. — Bernama