Fire and rescue personnel assisting a tourist down from the balcony on the third floor building in Kampung Air.
KOTA KINABALU (Feb 6): Six foreign tourists climbed onto ledges on a third floor building to escape from a fire at a backpackers hotel in Kampung Air, here on Tuesday morning.
Kota Kinabalu fire station chief Ordine Gilu said the man and five women in their mid 20s were from Switzerland, Slovakia, Russia, America, Japan and France.
They were identified as Roxanne Laura, 25, from Switzerland, Daniella Maria, 25, from the United States and Katyleen Marie-Gisele, 28, from France.
The other three were only identified by their first names – Gabriela, a 26-year-old woman from Slovakia, Anatasia, a 23-year-old from Russia and Shunsuke, a 22-year-old man from Japan.
“We received a distress call at 8.49am of a fire and teams from Kota Kinabalu and Lintas were deployed to the location.
“When fire and rescue personnel arrived, the hotel guests were seen standing on ledges on the third floor.
“We assisted them down safely by using Lacon Ladder. All the guests from the hotel were counted for,” he said.
Ordine said they managed to control the fire by 9.10am before the operation ended at 10.10am.
Early investigation revealed the fire started from one of the rooms of the hotel on the third floor.
“The fire destroyed the entire room while the other rooms were affected by the smoke and heat,” he added.
The actual cause of the fire and total loss are under investigation, he said.