(Victims Mother)
A 10-year-old girl who ran back into a burning shophouse to rescue her younger brother was burnt to death along with him.
Teng Wen Yan had made her way out of ther burning double-storey shophouse in Jitra, Kedah, early Tuesday morning when she realised her younger brother Dee Seng, seven, was still sleeping inside.
She ran back in a heroic attempt to save him, but she was believed to have been overcome by the smoke and and raging fire.
The fire razed five other shophouses at Jalan Jitra-Kodiang in Jitra. The fire is believed to have started at about 12.30am Tuesday
Firemen found Dee Seng’s body on his bed while Wen Yan’s body was found on the floor next to him.
Jitra Fire Station chief Ahmad Zamri Chik said they took seven hours to find the bodies as they was a lot of rubble.
“Their bodies were only slightly burnt,” he said.
Wen Yan and Dee Seng, who studied at SRJK (C) Chung Hwa, were sleeping in a room on the top floor with their elder brothers Dee Shian, 14, and Dee Chun, 11, when their grandfather Teng Yong Chong, 72, woke them up after realising the shophouse was on fire.
Yong Chong had injured himself while rushing down the stairs and was helped by Dee Shian and Dee Chun to get out of the house when the elderly man realised that his youngest grandson was not with them.
“When my grandfather asked where Dee Seng was, all of us panicked and during the commotion, I did not realise that Wen Yan had rushed back to rescue Dee Seng,” said Dee Shian.
He said within minutes the fire engulfed the whole building and they could not go in to rescue their siblings.
Dee Shian said that their parents Teng Soon Seng, 41, and Loh Siew Hua, 34, were at a temple at the time of the fire.
Loh said she last saw her children at about 10pm on Monday before leaving for the temple.
“Dee Seng wished me good night like he always does before going to bed and the children have always slept together in the room,” she said, adding that Wen Yan doted on her younger brother.
- Sitiemilia.
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