MUAR: Four siblings had wished to dress in black this Hari Raya Aidilfitri and asked their mother to buy them new attire in the colour, but now they will never get to wear their traditional clothes.
The children – Puteri Aisyah Tenko To, eight; Mohd Hakim, six; Mustakim, four; and three-year-old Fatihah Aisyah – died in a tragic fire at their rented house in Kampung Sabak Awor here on Wednesday night.
“They wanted black baju Melayu to wear on the first day of Hari Raya.
“I promised to buy them new clothes, but I am now not able to keep my promise,” said their mother Nabila Sedu when met at Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital here yesterday.
The 31-year-old could not contain her grief. She kept kissing one of her children’s pre-school clothes and said there would not be any celebration for the festival next month.
Nabila and her Myanmar-national husband, Thein Ko Htut, a 30-year-old restaurant worker, left the hospital without taking more questions from the media.
It is believed that she had gone out to buy diapers while Thein was at work when the fire broke out.
Muar OCPD Asst Comm Raiz Mukhliz Azman Aziz said police were investigating the fire from all aspects, including negligence.
He said police were still waiting for the post-mortem results of the siblings as well as the forensic report from the Fire and Rescue Department.
“Once we have all the reports, we will forward them to the deputy public prosecution office to check if there is an element of negligence, crime, or unintentionality,” he added.
He said preliminary investigations showed the cause of the fire could be a short circuit from the kitchen.
On Wednesday’s tragedy, Muar Fire and Rescue Department operations commander Shahrizal Mokhtar said they received a distress call at 7.49pm and deployed 20 personnel to the location.
“The fire destroyed 80% of the house.
“After putting out the flames, the team found four children, two girls and two boys, unconscious inside a bathroom.
“The medical team then pronounced all of them dead at the scene,” he added.
The children were believed to have suffocated in the smoke.
