KOTA KINABALU: An elderly woman, who rushed into her burning home in an attempt to salvage some valuables, fell to her death from the first floor of the double-sotrey house at Taman Jindo in Luyang early yesterday.
Chin Nyuk Sam, 79, who fell about 10 feet from the first floor of the house, was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital II but was pronounced death on arrival.
The fire is said to have started on the ground floor of the hillside house around 2am when the victim and six other family members were sleeping.
According to the victim’s son, Johny, 45, he saw his nephew Luis, 18, carrying his mother who was not only bleeding from the head but also suffering burns on her body outside the house.
“I helped Luis to carry my mother who was unconscious and brought her to the hospital, but she never made it,” he said when met yesterday.
Johny said his mother and six others, including the victim’s grandchild, were sleeping in their respective rooms when they were alerted to the fire by one of his in-laws.
“Some of us tried to put out the fire but failed, while others tried to salvage whatever they could.
“However, when all of us had already made our way to safety outside, my mother decided to go back in to save more items,” he said, adding that his nephew ran after her.
“My nephew was telling her to get out of the house but the fire was too big and they were trapped on the ground floor.
“They then ran upstairs into my mother’s bedroom and climbed out of a window,” he said
It is believed that the victim fell to her death after a zinc sheet she was stepping on gave way.
Family members then brought the victim to the hospital but she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Meanwhile, Sembulan fire station chief Ariffin Harris said the department received a distress call at 2.10am and sent eight personnel in an engine to the scene.
“We managed to put the fire under control by 3.30am and the operation ended at 4.28am,” he said.
The cause of the fire had not be determined, he said.