Six-year-old girl dies of smoke inhalation in condo fire

GEORGE TOWN: A six-year-old girl died of smoke inhalation during a fire at her home at The Rise Collection II condominium, Jalan Dr Wu Lien Teh, here today.

During the incident, Nur Rania Adelia Mohd Zaid was found unconscious after inhaling smoke in the bedroom and was confirmed dead at 10.53 am as she was being treated at the Penang Hospital while her brother, Muhammad Ariq Zakwan, four, was also treated at the intensive care unit of the same hospital.

Timur Laut district police chief ACP Soffian Santong said the police received a report about the fire at 9.10am, stating that a condominium was on fire and two children were rescued and brought to the hospital.

“Based on preliminary information, both siblings were asleep in the three-room condominium while their parents had gone out to a shop to buy necessities at 8.30am before realising there was a fire when they checked the CCTV recording of their residence,” he said in a statement today.

Soffian said the father, 34, checked the recording with an app on his phone as he was leaving the store to check up on his sleeping children at home.

He said the couple brought their youngest son, who is a year old, out with them to the store and rushed back to the 19-storey condominium upon discovering the fire using the app.

“The father immediately rushed into the house and saved his son who was lying in the living room while the wife ran to the room and brought out her eldest daughter before rushing them to the hospital in an ambulance,” he said.

He added that the autopsy confirmed the victim died of smoke inhalation and she was buried at the Jelutong Jamek Mosque Muslim cemetery.

Meanwhile, Jalan Perak Fire and Rescue Station operations chief Aazelan Hassan said they arrived at the scene at 9.05am and provided early treatment and respiratory aid before the victims were sent to the hospital.

“Firefighters from the Perak fire station and the Lebuh Pantai fire station rushed to the scene after receiving the call, and when we arrived both children, including the unconscious girl, had been brought out of their home by their parents,” he said.

He added that the fire was brought under control at 9.36am and was put out completely an hour after. — Bernama