Putra Heights: The blissful Hari Raya was shattered for senior citizen Meskam Tumin when he learned that his ex-wife was one of the injured in the gas pipeline fire in Jalan Putra Harmoni, Putra Heights, Subang Jaya.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Meskam, 73, said his daughter had phoned him, informing that the house of his former spouse, Sopiah Othman, 63, was burnt down in the huge fire at Putra Heights this morning.

The retiree, who was in Seri Kembangan upon receiving the shocking news, rushed to the scene just in time to see the plume of smoke still enveloping his ex-wife’s house. “I went straight to where people had gathered, trying to get information about what had happened. I then called the ambulance for Sopiah, which arrived quickly at our location,” Meskam recounted.

“I myself took her to the hospital and now I can only wait for the doctor’s prognosis,” he added, clearly trying to hold back his despair. Sopiah, who had been a part of his life, suffered injuries to her back and legs and fainted on the way to the hospital in the ambulance.

“Earlier I wasn’t watching TV (news bulletin). I only found out when my daughter told me the house was on fire. I thought it was (due to) ordinary cooking gas, but she said ‘it’s a petroleum gas (pipeline) fire’,” he told Bernama with a quivering voice at the Putrajaya Hospital compound.