Firemen toiling to put out the fire at the students’ rented quarters in a shop house at Jalan Haji Taha.
The students huddled by the roadside as the firefighters bring the fire under control.
KUCHING: Eight Unitar students were forced to flee in the wee hours yesterday with only the clothes on their backs after their rented quarters in a shop house at Jalan Haji Taha here caught fire.
The students, who hail from Sri Aman, Sibu, Miri and Limbang, said they were awoken around 4am after smelling smoke and seeing flames raging inside an adjacent empty unit on the second storey of the shop house.
They immediately fled with what little they could grab at the time and could do nothing except watch helplessly as the fire engulfed their unit.
Firemen from the Padungan and Batu Lintang stations were despatched to the scene following a distress call made at 4.04am and took them about half an hour to bring the situation under control.
The cause of the fire is being investigated.
The students, who listed laptops, mobile phones and study materials among their losses, said they would temporarily stay with friends before deciding on their next course of action.