A five-year-old girl locked inside a modified container was burnt to death in a fire in Kota Kinabalu. Six other similar structures used as workers’ quarters were also damaged in the fire.
Kabo Boreng was left inside the 6m container by her father Bernados Boro, 29, before he left for work at a nearby chicken farm in Bongawan, 84km south of the state capital.
Bernados and the other workers tried in vain to kick open the door when they saw smoke coming from the container at about 8.30am yesterday.
It is believed that Kabo accidentally locked herself inside the container. Her mother was out of town and she was alone.
Relatives of the family who were at the scene mentioned that Bernados sometimes had to lock the door when he goes out for work during his wife’s absence as he is afraid that Kabo would roam around.
He is just being cautious and doesn’t want his daughter to go missing, said a relative.
However, a distraught Bernados told firemen that this time Kabo locked herself in.
Papar Fire station chief Dunstan Peter said, “We asked about the door, and he (Bernados) told us it was his daughter who locked it. However we will investigate further once he is in a better state of mind.”
He said the seven containers, which were mostly wood with steel frames, were already 90% burnt when firemen arrived at 8.59am.
“We received the call at 8.34am and could only prevent the fire from spreading further when we arrived,” Peter said.
The fire was then brought under control at about 9.20am.
Kabo’s body has been brought to the Papar district hospital for post-mortem.
[Source]
