SIBU: About 200 residents of Rumah Selanjat in Sungai Segan, Ulu Sebauh, Bintulu, located about 180 kilometres from here, were left homeless when 33 out of 36 doors of their longhouse were destroyed in a fire this morning.
A spokesman for the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Operations Centre said the fire involved an old block of longhouses with a non-permanent structure, which was estimated to be 90 percent destroyed.
"Three more doors were successfully saved from burning. The fire was completely extinguished and firefighters managed to prevent the fire from spreading to the new block of the longhouse which is only 4 metres away from where the fire started."
"The estimated number of affected residents is 200 people from 33 families. They managed to get out of the fire area and no injuries were reported," he said in a statement today.
Head of the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department Zone 5 Bintulu Wan Kamaruddin Wan Ahmad, when contacted by Bernama, said the fire was believed to have started in the central unit of the longhouse.
However, he said the exact cause and losses from the fire were still being investigated and a forensic team would go to the scene tomorrow to conduct further investigations.