20140402 Malaysia Alleged Petrol Leak Sparks Blaze, Injures 11 And Destroys A Stall And Seven Vehicles
Malaysia Apr 02 2014 “Automobile & Railway”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 30 to 69 Injured : injured more than 10
Alleged Petrol Leak Sparks Blaze, Injures 11 And Destroys A Stall And Seven Vehicles
Updated: 2014-04-03-12:00
GUA MUSANG, April 3 (Bernama) — Petrol that allegedly leaked while a tanker was unloading the fuel at a kiosk here last night ignited and caused a blaze that injured 11 people and destroyed a burger stall, four cars and three motorcycles, said Gua Musang Police chief Supt Saiful Bahri Abdullah.
Three of the injured people had been placed under intensive care at the Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital in Kota Baharu, said Kelantan Fire and Rescue Department director Azmi Osman.
He identified them as Mohd Azman Hamat, 18, who suffered burns to 100 per cent of his body; Nurul Isah Mohd Yusof, 20, (who suffered burns to 50 per cent of her body) and Tengku Ahmad Faqin Tengku Abdullah, also 20, (who suffered burns to 23 per cent of his body). They are reported to be in stable condition.
The fire occurred at 10.10 pm at Jalan Persiaran Raya, said Saiful Bahri.
Azmi said two people had been admitted to the Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital in Kubang Kerian and six, to the Kuala Krai Hospital.
Saiful Bahri said the 11 people were eating at the burger stall in Dataran Kesedar Putra adjacent to the petrol kiosk where the tanker was unloading the fuel.
Petrol allegedly flowed from the kiosk to the row of food stalls there and the blaze was triggered by the fire at the burger stall, he said, adding that the fire spread quickly to the cars and motorcycles of the traders and customers.
He said the traders and customers ran helter-skelter to escape the blaze.
It is learnt that those at the burger stall collapsed after the flames struck them. Several of them crawled out of the area while others dived into a nearby ditch to put out the fire on their clothes.
The burger stall operator, Mohd Faris Ikhwan Mohd Azmi, 25, said he saw the petrol flowing towards the stall but was too late to do anything to prevent the fire.
Met at his home in Taman Wangi here, he said that even with his clothes on fire, he went to the aid of a person who seemed to be having a seizure.
“I suffered burns on both my feet as my slippers got burned. I was taken to the Gua Musang Hospital for treatment,” he said when Galas state assemblyman Ab Aziz Yusof called on him.
The owner of a food stall, Mohd Nordin Mohd Yusoff, 62, said he was watching television when the fire struck his customers.
“When the vehicles caught fire, I gathered my wife, children and grandchildren and immediately left the area. I also helped several of my injured customers,” he said.
“When explosions were heard coming from the burning vehicles, we had moved to a safe distance and waited for medical assistance,” he added.
An eye-witness, Mara Polytechnic student Nor Anis Yasmin Mohd Othman, 22, said she was eating at a stall with some friends when their clothes caught fire.
She went to the aid of the friends, some of whom had collapsed.
“I was frightened by the fire and the several explosions which came from the vehicles. Thank God nothing happened to me,” she said.
Nurul Isah’s mother, Masiah Hasbullah, 53, slumped to the floor at the Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital in Kota Baharu after seeing her daughter with burns to 50 per cent of the body.
“Yesterday evening, Isah had telephone me to say she was unwell and I thought she had gone to the hospital to get some medication, but did not think she was here for treatment of burns,” she said.
Meanwhile, Azmi said the Kelantan Fire and Rescue Department was conducting an investigation to determine the actual cause of the fire, and that the department’s forensics team had been instructed to carry out the probe.
“The investigation will take some time,” he said when visiting the burn victims at the Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital.
Machang Fire and Rescue Service chief Che Rusli Che Sulaiman said 10 firemen rushed to the scene in a truck after the service was summoned at 10.16 pm.
The firemen arrived to be greeted by loud explosions and saw the four cars and three motorcycles burning, he said.
They doused the flames in 10 minutes and stopped it from spreading to the other food stalls, he added.
Che Rusli said the damage had yet to be determined.
— BERNAMA
Websource:bernama
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