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A mother made three attempts to rescue her son from a fire that destroyed their home in Kampung Gong Tok Nasek, Kuala Terengganu on Monday night, 3 August, but was unable to reach him
According to Malay Mail, Sharipah Yusof, 59, said she and her husband, Abd Rashid Md Zain, 64, were asleep on the ground floor while their eldest son, 41-year-old Abd Latif Abd Rashid, was sleeping alone in an upstairs bedroom when the fire broke out at about 10.50pm.
Sharipah said she only realised the house was on fire after someone knocked on the door to alert them.
"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," she told reporters at the scene.
Sharipah said she then entered the burning house and knocked on her son's bedroom door, which was locked from the inside, but received no response
"The first and second times, I was still able to go inside while calling out to him repeatedly. The third time, I tried to enter but could not because the fire was too big and the heat was overwhelming.
"When the firefighters arrived, I immediately told them that my son was upstairs," she said, as quoted by the New Straits Times.
She said Abd Latif, the eldest of her four children, was a person with learning disabilities (OKU) and had not left the house for a long time.
Meanwhile, Kuala Terengganu Fire and Rescue Station chief Thoyyibah Taib said firefighters arrived at 10.57pm and brought the blaze under control within 15 minutes
The operation involved 22 personnel from the Kuala Terengganu and Kota Raja Fire and Rescue Stations, as well as the Kampung Losong Volunteer Fire Brigade.
Thoyyibah said about 80% of the house had already been destroyed by the time firefighters arrived, and rescue efforts focused on containing the blaze and locating the victim.
"The victim was later found burnt to death on the ground floor after he is believed to have fallen from the upper floor when the floor collapsed due to the fire," she said.
The victim's remains have been handed over to the police, while the cause of the fire and the extent of the losses are still under investigation.
