KOTA KINABALU: Tragedy can strike all of a sudden, as Siti Juanna Mahrop and her three children will attest to.
By a whisker, the family lost their sole breadwinner, loving husband and doting father in a fire that ravaged a neighbour’s house in Labuan in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Gillian Donald (pic), Siti Juanna’s spouse of 16 years, sprang to the rescue of a family of seven trapped upstairs as flames engulfed the double-storey terrace house at Merinding Garden, off Jalan OKK Daud.
After pulling the victims to safety with the help of other neighbours, Gillian, 41, collapsed and passed out on the road.
He succumbed to suffocation due to over-inhalation of smoke in the 4am incident.
As his grief-stricken family grapple with the incident’s aftermath, Gillian is being hailed as a selfless hero all over the country and in the media.
“While we are starting to accept what took place, the sense of loss and shock still lingers. My children and I are devastated; we had never expected this. But we take solace in how he gave his life to save us and others. His memory will live on forever,” Siti Juanna said when contacted.
The Immigration Department personnel has been on unpaid maternity leave since giving birth to their youngest child in 2020, a decision mutually agreed to by the couple.
This left Gillian, an oil and gas worker, with the task of providing for his wife and children aged four, 13 and 15.
Siti Juanna said her husband would never shirk from lending a helping hand to those in need.
In an interview on Thursday, Rogy @ Rothstewart James Pang, the head of the family of seven saved from the burning house, hailed Gillian as a “superhero” for saving them.
The story is continuing to make waves but Siti Juanna said her family is uncomfortable with the publicity.
“My husband was humble and if he did anything to help others, he would keep it to himself.
“Plus, there were other neighbours who were equal in the task too,” she said, naming some of them as Mohd Zainal Tajuddin, Rees Maximus Andrias, his older brother Ryan Macdonell and Muhiddin Sohod.
Briefly recalling the events of that fateful morning, she said she was awakened by an explosion, which was followed by a booming sound.
“Gillian quickly got up and looked through our sliding door, which directly faced our neighbour’s house, and saw a fire already at its height. He shouted ‘call the ambulance’ before dashing out. Those were his last words.
“While on the phone, I could see the chaotic scenes unfolding outside as Gillian and the others scrambled to find a way into the compound before finding a ladder to bring down those trapped in the burning house. I am still traumatised just thinking about their screams for help,” Siti Juanna said.
Besides Pang and his wife, the five others in the burning house were his four daughters, aged between five and 14, and his 67-year-old mother in-law.
Siti Juanna said after her husband passed out, neighbours visited her and told her to be patient. “I was hoping he would be okay ... I had to be calm and strong for my children,” she said.
Gillian’s remains were buried at the Muslim cemetery in Likas on Wednesday evening.
