LABUAN: A total of 261 people from 42 families were made homeless after fire swept through the Kampung Muslim refugee settlement on this island today.
The fire, which broke out at about 10am, destroyed 39 wooden squatter houses in the refugee resettlement scheme.
Labuan Fire and Rescue Department director Abdul Rahman Ali said it received a distress call at 10.47am and promptly dispatched firefighters to the scene.
The blaze was brought under control with the help of the residents.
"We managed to put out the blaze in less than one hour, and there were no fatalities.
"The quick action of our firefighters saved hundreds of other wooden houses in the settlement," Abdul Rahman told reporters at the scene.
He said the cause of the fire is being investigated.
This is not the first time a fire disaster has struck the community.
In 2009, a blaze destroyed hundreds of houses in the same settlement, highlighting the vulnerability of the wooden structures to fire.
Checks showed that residents, including children and the elderly, were gathering their belongings and seeking temporary shelter as authorities coordinated relief efforts.
National Security Council director Mohd Hafiez Daud, when met at the scene, said emergency teams, together with local agencies like the Welfare Department and the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP), are providing aid and assistance to the affected families.He said there are 334 houses in the densely populated settlement, which is home to about 1,700 people.
– Bernama