KUCHING, Oct 4 — Isniah Daud was tending to her kuih stall with her three daughters when a neighbour called to tell her that their riverside house near Kampung Bintawa Tengah had collapsed into the river yesterday morning.

The 42-year-old immediately left the stall, leaving her daughters to continue tending to it, and rushed home.

Her youngest daughter, 11, had initially wanted to remain at home that morning but eventually followed her mother after her father, Mohd Ismail Mostapha, insisted she go along.

“Good thing my youngest daughter was not at home. At first she wanted to stay in, but my husband insisted she should come with me, so she did,” Isniah told The Borneo Post when met.

Her husband was away doing contract work involving the opening of containers when the incident occurred.

Isniah said she had experienced an unexplained sense of unease shortly before the collapse.

“When I was tending to my kuih stall, I seemed to have a bad feeling but I can’t really explain it.

“Then, all of a sudden, the flour and some coconut water spilled. A friend of mine who also sells kuih there jokingly asked, ‘Why did you play with your flour and your coconut water?’

“About 10 minutes later, a neighbour called me about the incident. I left immediately, leaving my daughters to tend to the stall,” she said.

The family later managed to recover some certificates and important documents from the rubble, but her daughters’ identification cards could not be retrieved as they were inside a bedroom that had been submerged.

“When we checked the rubble, we saw my youngest daughter’s bed impaled by a collapsed pole of the house.

“I was thinking, what if my youngest daughter had stayed in the house today,” she said.

Isniah said the house was about 18 years old, although she had lived there for 14 years after her sister handed it over to her when she built a new house.

She said the family had been concerned about the condition of the riverside house, particularly during rainy weather.

“Since the house is at the riverside, of course it concerns me, especially when there’s rain — we can feel the house shaking.

“We did plan to renovate the house but well, didn’t manage,” she said.

The collapse also damaged a neighbouring house after debris from Isniah’s house struck two of its poles, leaving the structure unstable.

Isniah said firefighters had advised the occupants not to remain in the house.

“As for my family, for now we’re staying at my uncle’s house,” she said.

Isniah, her husband and their three daughters escaped unhurt in the incident.

Her husband later went to the police station to lodge a report, following advice from firefighters and police who attended the scene.

The incident occurred at about 9.30am, with the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department receiving a report at around 1.16pm before personnel from the Petra Jaya Fire and Rescue Station were dispatched to the scene.

The department said no rescue operation was conducted as the five residents – a couple and their three daughters – had managed to escape the collapsed house.

Firefighters also found that a nearby house was at risk of collapse after some of its stilts were struck by debris from the affected house, rendering the structure unstable. Its owner was subsequently advised to exercise caution. — The Borneo Post