'I couldn't even see my hands,' mother recounts harrowing Melaka arson ordeal

KUALA LUMPUR: Six members of a family, including a single mother and her two sons, were caught in a terrifying arson attack that filled their Melaka home with thick smoke and plunged them into darkness, leaving some of them trapped in the bathroom.

According to Sin Chew Daily, the victim, only known as Chan, recounted the attacks which occurred at around 4am on Oct 19 when thick smoke suddenly filled the second floor.

“This was the second arson attack on our family this year. The first, in July, had already left us homeless, and now we faced another terrifying ordeal,” she said.

“I couldn’t even see my hands in front of me. I was holding my two-year-old in one arm and my nine-year-old’s hand in the other while trapped in the bathroom with my immobile grandmother.

“I felt utterly hopeless. I thought our lives were about to end,” she added.

Chan’s father quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher to fight the flames, while her mother searched frantically for the house keys.

The family stumbled their way downstairs through the smoke, guided only by the walls, as her mother opened four back doors leading to the alley.

“In the dark, we could only rely on our voices. I couldn’t even see my children’s faces.

“My younger son was trembling uncontrollably, my elder one was crying and asking why the fire happened again, and my grandmother was struggling to follow behind me,” Chan said.

Chan said that the first arson attack happened earlier this year, at about 4am on July 31.

Someone had thrown a petrol bomb at their house, destroying her grandmother’s car and her father’s motorcycle.

CCTV footage showed a man walking to the neighbouring unit, lighting something, and throwing a petrol bomb into her car porch, igniting a massive blaze in the latest attack.

The fire destroyed the porch ceiling and many household items, leaving the family with nowhere to live and afraid to return to the house.

Chan said that she has had no contact with her ex-husband since their divorce nearly two years ago, and has been living with her parents and 76-year-old grandmother in Taman Bertam Jaya, raising her two young sons.

She has never borrowed money from loan sharks and pleaded with those responsible to stop harming innocent people.

Last year, she received three threatening notes saying “Pay Your Debts”, each attached with a copy of her ex-husband’s identification card.

She lodged two police reports regarding the threats.

“This series of harassment and arson attacks has left us homeless and caused great distress to my family and relatives.

“I just hope the people behind this understand that debts have their owners — stop hurting innocent people and let us live in peace,” she said.

© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd

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