The aftermatch scene of Rh. Ayin and Tiong's team while rendering their Mercy Service. BINTULU:A 70-year-old man suffers serious burns and has been referred to the divisional hospital here Tuesday evening after escaping from a fire that destroyed his longhouse, Rh Ayin, at Sungai Kebulu, Tubau in Sebauh sub-district. Mula ak Entinge injured both arms and his body in the incident while trying to bring out his wife and salvaging his belongings out from the longhouse which eventually burnt down last Monday. Initially he was treated at the Tubau Rural Clinic before a team from the Bintulu MP’sPeople Service Centre led by its welfare chief, Encik Kong Kung Kwong, helped to bring him down to the hospital here by boat for further treatment. Apart from Mula, another resident Nyimah ak Anjem, 57, only suffered minor injury on his right arm in the incident which was said to have started at about 10.15am, when most of the occupants were away at their farms. The catastrophe had also left 250 people homeless and losses were claimed to be in the region of RM500,000. Several residents claimed that the incident was triggered by several children in the longhouse who played with fire that eventully caught on a pillow before spreading to the other part of the longhouse. In less than 30 minutes, the longhouse were razed down to the ground as the intense heat was learnt to have ignited several explosions from cylindered gas inside the longhouse and petrol kept in storerooms nearby. They said a storage area where the residents kept their recently harvested paddy and pepper were also destroyed. A change in the wind direction, however, evade the fire from reaching a school, SK Sungai Kebulu, which was separated from the burning longhouse by a stream which was just about 40 feet wide. The school headmaster, Encik Philip Ding Kalong, said seven teachers went along with him to evacuate the residents to the other side of the stream as well as to salvage a few of their belongings. Bintulu Member of Parliament, Dato’ Seri Tiong King Sing who was notified of the incident had announced a minor rural project grant of RM10,000 for the residents apart from making a personal donation of RM1,000. His special assistant, Encik Teo Ho Ping, who went to the scene on Tuesday handed over the donation to the longhouse chief, TR Ayin ak Mula. Teo added that the Kemena state assemblyman, Dr Stephen Rundi ak Utom who is currently in Kuching for the PBB convention preparation had also been informed of the incident and would visit the fire victims soon. The Welfare Services Department led by its Bintulu assistant director, Encik Peter Niyel Ramies, also went to visit the site and distributed immediate relief for the fire victims. At present, the longhouse residents were temporarily placed at the SK Sungai Kebulu with some setting up makeshift tents pending assistances to re-build their longhouse. Rh Ayin in Sungai Kebulu is among the furthest-placed longhouses in the sub-district and required a speedboat journey of about four hours from here.