KOTA KINABALU: One of the four fire victims in Kampung Hungab, Penampang, was frantically shining a torchlight out of an upper-floor window of their double-storey house while screaming for help during the blaze that eventually killed the teenager and his family members, according to a neighbour.

       Brendon Wong, 17, along with his father Matthew, 50, mother Jecky Vun Kon Fung, 47, and brother Eric, 15, perished in the 2am fire on Tuesday.

       Brendon’s next-door neighbour, who only wanted to be identified as Chai, 20, had alerted the authorities of the fire.

       He said the fire was first noticed by his mother who was still awake at that time.

       “My mother was just preparing to sleep when she heard the sounds of broken glass from the neighbour’s house. At first, she thought the couple were having an argument but later went out of the house to check on them when she smelt a burning stench,” he said.

       Chai said his mother saw fire coming out from the living room windows, which were broken at that time and immediately woke him and his father up.

       They later saw Brendon shining his torchlight from the upper level room and heard him screaming for help but they could not get into the house to rescue them due to the intense fire.

       Several of the neighbours had initially tried to help by pouring buckets of water at the main entrance to try and get the victims out while waiting for help to arrive but the fire was just too strong, he said.

       The neighbours described the family as friendly and who had occasionally given them fruits from their yard.

       Other neighbours said they heard dogs barking non-stop before they saw smoke coming from the house and alerted the authorities too.

       The neighbours said they believe that the incident could have occurred due to a short circuit as there was power outage lasting about half an hour at around 11pm, prior to the fire.

       Sabah Fire and Rescue Department operations assistant director Misran Bisara said that the remains of the victims were found in two locations – the mother was found in the master bathroom and three others were huddled in another room.“We are not sure how the fire started yet but believe it was from the lower floor,” he said, adding that could have hampered their attempts to escape, coupled with the fact that the windows were installed with grilles, preventing them from getting out.

       Penampang OCPD DSP Mohd Haris Ibrahim said no foul play was suspected.