KUALA TERENGGANU, Aug 4 — A mother was overcome with regret after failing to save her son who was trapped in a fire that destroyed their home in here last night.
Sharipah Yusof, 59, said she tried three times to brave the flames and enter the house to rescue her son, Abd Latif Abd Rashid, 41, who was sleeping in a locked room upstairs when the incident occurred at 10.52 pm.
However, she failed to reach him, and her eldest son, a person with intellectual disability, was later found dead on the ground floor of the house.
When the incident happened, my husband and I had just gone to sleep after returning from one of our children’s houses when we heard someone knocking loudly on the door.
“The person told us the house was on fire and pulled us out. I then remembered my son was upstairs and asked members of the public to save him, but they were afraid as the flames were spreading.
“I went in three times to call him out, but failed as the fire had spread to both floors,” she told reporters at the scene last night.
Sharipah said she was also saddened that kitchen supplies purchased through the Rahmah Basic Contribution (SARA) for herself, her husband and the late Abd Latif were destroyed in the blaze.
Meanwhile, Kuala Terengganu Fire and Rescue Station (BBP) chief, Thoyyibah Taib, said firefighters arrived at the scene at 10.57 pm and brought the blaze under control 15 minutes later.
The operation involved 22 personnel from Kuala Terengganu, Kota Raja BBPs and the Kampung Losong Voluntary Fire Brigade.
She said about 80 per cent of the house occupied by the three family members had already been destroyed when firefighters arrived, with efforts focused on controlling the blaze and locating the victim.
“The victim was later found burnt to death on the lower floor after he was believed to have fallen from the upper floor when the floor collapsed due to the fire,” she said.
Thoyyibah said the victim’s remains had been handed over to the police, while the cause of the fire and losses were still under investigation. — Bernama
