GEORGE TOWN: Fearing the raging flames, an autistic boy hid in his room and was killed in the fire that gutted his home in Kampung Lombong Pasir, Teluk Bahang here yesterday.
The charred remains of Chai Sheng Chamnuai, 11, was found slumped in a bedroom of the single-storey house by firemen.
He was at home with his sister Jen Chit, 13, and a Vietnamese aunt when the fire broke out at about noon. The fire is believed to have started in the kitchen.
Jen Chit, who suffered minor burns on both arms, said she grabbed her brother by the hand after seeing the fire spread rapidly, but the boy put up a struggle.
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“I had to leave the house as the flames were getting out of control. With the back door open, I thought he could still escape. But he chose to remain in there,” said a sobbing Jen Chit, who received outpatient treatment.
The devastated family said Chai Sheng, who attended a special school in Tanjung Bungah, had only started calling out to his parents.
His eldest sister Wan Nee, 23, who described Chai Sheng as physically normal, said the boy had begun to call out “Papa” and “Mama” recently.
“He also started taking bathing and eating on his own. We were all so elated over his progress. But God must certainly have had other plans for him,” she said.
It was a heart-wrenching sight at the scene when Wan Nee, who rushed home from her workplace at the Penang Sports Club, tried to console her parents who were sobbing uncontrollably.
Her father Chamnuai Sawin and mother Choo Siew Chin, both 46, said they could not come to terms with the sudden loss of their only son.
Wan Nee was overheard telling her mother not to blame herself, saying that it was God’s will.
Teluk Bahang Fire Station operations chief A. Manoharan said firemen arrived at the scene at 11.47am after receiving a distress call.
“We faced difficulty controlling the flames as the nearest fire hydrant was 800m away. We managed to control the fire in 30 minutes before we found the body,” he said, adding that the rescue operations involved more than 20 firemen and two fire engines.
State Legislative Assembly Speaker Datuk Abdul Halim Hussain presented RM300 from the Southwest Dis-trict Office to the family.
He said the state Welfare Department would also give RM500 each to the family and another family who lived in the same house.
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