20150804 Malaysia Man Believed To Be Mentally Ill Perishes In Fire
Malaysia Aug 04 2015 “Houses”
Dead : dead 1 to 4 Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Man Believed To Be Mentally Ill Perishes In Fire
Updated: 2015-08-04 12:00
GEORGE TOWN, Aug 4 (Bernama) — A man believed to be mentally unstable perished in a fire after he was trapped in the bathroom of a burning wooden house next to the Penang Chinese Girls’ Primary and Secondary School in Jalan Gottlieb, here today.
Bagan Jermal Fire and Rescue Station senior fire officer II, Hashim Ismail said the victim, identified as Wan Choo, 58, died in the 5 pm fire.
He said the station received a distress call at about 5.19 pm and the first fire-engine arrived about nine minutes later.
“When we arrived the fire was raging and it took about 10 minutes to control the fire from spreading to the school and adjacent house. We managed to douse the fire about an hour later and managed to retrieve the charred remains of a man from the bathroom of the house,” he said.
The victim was believed to be alone in the house when the fire started while the other family members were at work.
Hashim said the body of the victim was later sent to the Penang Hospital for post-mortem.
Three fire engines and 15 fire fighters from the Bagan Jermal and Jalan Perak Fire and Rescue stations were deployed to the site.
The incident saw about 1,200 primary and secondary school students next door panic due to the thick smoke that engulfed their classrooms.
“However, swift action by teachers in getting the students out of the classrooms to the school field prevented any untoward incidents such as suffocation or injuries,” he said.
Web Source: Bernama
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v8/newsindex.php?id=1158484