Fire in rented room kills 2 sisters, leaves mum critically injured

 

Melaka Tengah police chief Christopher Patit said there were 21 rooms in the building, with only six of them rented out. (Facebook pic)

MELAKA: Two young sisters died during treatment at Melaka Hospital, while their mother is in critical condition after they were trapped in a fire at a rented room in a four-storey building on Jalan Plaza Mahkota here today.

Melaka Tengah police chief Christopher Patit said Nur Riaisha Zahra Abdullah, two, her sister Nuralia Karisa, 12, and their mother, Azliha Ngah Ariffin, 40, were found unconscious by firefighters on the third floor of the shophouse at 1.30pm.

“A married couple, who are tenants of a room on the second floor, are in stable condition after they managed to escape before being brought to the same hospital.

“The owner of the shop on the ground floor, who is also the landlord of the building, realised that there was a fire at about 1.30pm and called 999,” he said in a statement here.

Patit said a preliminary investigation found that there were 21 rooms from the first to the third floor, with only six of those rooms rented out.

He said there were only five tenants present when the fire occurred.

He said the cause of the fire and deaths are being investigated, and police are trying to trace the family’s next of kin. - FMT