Villagers live in fear after explosion
Major fire at paint factory worries locals who want authorities to act quickly

ISKANDAR PUTERI: Muhammad Haiqal Shazwan Kassim has never seen an explosion such as the one that hit a factory at Dato Yunus Sulaiman industrial park here.

The 23-year-old, who is self-employed, said he received a call from his parents who told him about the fire and he immediately went back home to Kampung Melayu Lima Kedai.

“My family house is quite near to the factory and I went back home fearing for their safety. When I reached my village, there were large crowds gathering.

“I can see a thick black smoke and the fire was just too big,” he said, adding that he then went straight home after police advised them to disperse and move away from the area.

“I grew up in this village and this is the first time that such an incident happened. I am now concerned about my family’s wellbeing as the explosion is due to highly-flammable chemical materials,” he said here yesterday.

Another resident, Mohd Zulhairi Hairul Nizam, 21, said he and his family would continue to live in the village as long as there is no order to leave from the authorities.

Never seen before: A major explosion occurred following a fire that hit a factory at the Dato Yunus Sulaiman industrial park at Lima Kedai in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, on Monday night.

“At the moment, there is no directive from the agencies for the villages to move out. However, I still hope that the authorities can act fast to ensure the safety of the villagers,” he said.

Meanwhile, Johor Environment Department has conducted quality checks around the industrial area following a fire that hit a factory on Monday night.

State health and environment committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said the department has conducted air quality checks around a housing area and a school near the factory.

“The state Environment Department has conducted checks around Jalan Bahagia 1, some 300m from the scene and in front of SJK(C) Ping Ming, located some 500m from the scene.

“Based on the checks, it was found that there is some solvent and paint odour around the housing area, but the reading was satisfactory and did not exceed the Acute Exposure Level Guidelines (AELG) reading.

Meanwhile, no odour was detected near the school,” he said, adding that the checks were conducted at 12.30am and 8am yesterday.

Ling said that he would continue to monitor the situation and that, as of press time, there were no orders for people to evacuate the area.

On Monday night, as firemen were battling to control the fire, small explosions were heard before a major explosion hit the factory.

Johor Fire and Rescue Department director Siti Rohani Nadir said the department received a distress call about the fire incident at around 6.37pm on Monday evening.

She added that a total of 50 firemen from five fire and rescue stations with six fire fighter volunteers from Senai and Kulai Besar fire and rescue teams were deployed to the scene.

“The factory has seven building units which houses paint processing and a lubricant processing. Inside the factory are highly flammable materials such as solvent, acetone and dimethyl ether (DME),” she said when met at the scene here on Monday night.

“The fire has been successfully controlled and at this time, cooling works are still being carried out until the fire is completely put out,” she said, adding that no one was injured in the incident.

Siti Rohani also said that the department was still investigating the cause of the fire, which caused 50% damage to the factory.
ISKANDAR PUTERI: Muham­mad Haiqal Shazwan Kassim has never seen an explosion such as the one that hit a factory at Dato Yunus Sulaiman industrial park here.