Faulty wiring may have caused deadly Johor Baru hospital fire

JOHOR BARU — Malaysian Jayaganesan Chandran was attending a company course on fire safety in Woodlands, when he received the tragic news that his younger sister — whom he had seen just several hours earlier — had died in a blaze that broke out at Johor’s biggest hospital yesterday morning.

“I had to tell my safety officer that my sister is no more,” said the 25-year-old mover with a logistics company at Jurong Port, who immediately rushed back to Johor Baru upon hearing the news.

His sister, 24-year-old Neeramala Devi, was one of six patients who died in the fire that broke out on the second floor of the Sultanah Aminah Hospital. The victims were likely to have died from suffocation, Johor police said.

Eleven people were also injured, some due to burns.

The fire — the cause of which has not been determined — broke out around 9am at the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) where seven patients, four women and three men, were warded. The lone survivor, a man, was taken to another hospital with 80 per cent burns on his body.

“I cannot believe my sister has already passed away,” Mr Chandran, who was with her at the ICU till 3am yesterday, told TODAY at the hospital’s mortuary.

His sister also worked in Singapore, at a manufacturing company in Woodlands. The siblings would cross the Causeway daily from Johor.

Ms Devi was warded at the hospital’s ICU after suffering from fits on Monday.

Her condition had stabilised, and she was supposed to be transferred to a normal ward just before the fire occurred, said Mr Chandran, whose grandmother died three weeks ago.

When a TODAY team visited the mortuary yesterday afternoon, teary-eyed family members were waiting to claim the bodies of their loved ones. Some clutched their heads in disbelief; others stared blankly into space.

Ms Muniammah Santhiavoo, who lost her 23-year-old niece Kaliamma Muniandy, whom she regarded as a daughter, said in between sobs: “I cannot forget her.”

Staff nurse Noor Idayu Jahan, 26, told TODAY that she was preparing for surgery when she was told to evacuate the hospital with about 20 patients and staff.

She described the evacuation process as “systematic but chaotic”, and managed to escape unscathed.

However, some of her colleagues were injured, including two who suffered burns.

It was still unclear what started the fire, which took 10 fire trucks and 166 rescuers several hours to completely extinguish.

During TODAY’s visit to the hospital — which had been used by members of the Johor royalty in the past — soiled towels and face masks could be seen strewn across the building’s entrances and stairways, which were still wet from the firefighting operation.

Volunteers were seen using metal trolleys and stretchers to carry provisions such as water, biscuits and packed food to the hospital’s staff members, patients who were not affected by the fire, and their family members.

Johor police said there were 193 staff members and 294 patients at the hospital when the fire broke out.

As investigations into the cause of the fire continued, various theories have emerged.

An early explanation pointed to faulty wiring as a possible cause. A senior firefighting official later cited an eyewitness account to suggest that the fire could have started from a treatment room in the ICU, which was gutted by the fire.

According to the New Straits Times (NST), one popular theory being circulated on social media is that the fire could have been set off by a mobile phone that was plugged into a charger next to an oxygen tank.

However, Malaysian Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam said: “That is only a rumour. The authorities are still carrying out their investigations.”

Questions have also arisen over the safety and crisis management procedures in other Malaysian hospitals following yesterday’s blaze.

NST said a special squad from the Health Ministry will review the procedures at all of Malaysia’s 145 public hospitals, and make recommendations on areas that needed improvement.