Woman dies in KL fire

Woman dies in KL fire

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): A 73-year-old woman was killed and more than 5,000 people lost their homes in a fire that gutted three villages in a sea-front area in Sabah state, on Borneo island, news reports said Friday.

Authorities estimated that 70 percent of the victims were not Malaysian citizens, The Star newspaper reported. Many illegal immigrants from the Philippines and Indonesia live in Sabah.

The woman, Tsan Swee Lee, died while trying to escape from her home in Kampung Kombo, a grouping of two squatter settlements, The Star reported. A 10-year-old boy was missing. Their nationalities were unclear.

Firefighters were hampered by low water pressure and strong winds and needed six hours to put out the fire, which broke out Thursday morning, the national news agency Bernama reported. An investigation was opened into the cause.