Family of 14 left homeless after their stilt house collapses in Karamunting

Karamunting assemblyman Datuk George Hiew Vun Zin (in light blue shirt) and his constituency task force team visiting the collapsed house at Kampung Air, Karamunting on Tuesday.

KOTA KINABALU: A mother and her 13 children were made homeless when their wooden stilt house collapsed at a coastal village in Sandakan district on Monday night (April 15).

Karamunting assemblyman Datuk George Hiew Vun Zin said his Karamunting task force team visited the family immediately on Tuesday (April 16) morning after the incident following his instruction.

It was fortunate that the mother, who was a housewife, managed to get the children out of their home upon hearing the sound of something snapping, said Hiew, who was at the state capital when the incident happened.

“Their house at Jambatan 6, Kampung Air, Karamunting here collapsed around 8pm on Monday (April 15).

“The husband is currently in Kuala Lumpur for work.

“The victims – including children with the oldest still in school-going age – were not hurt and ended up staying at a relative’s house that night before relocating to Kg Karamunting community hall on Tuesday (April 16) temporarily at this moment,” he said in the statement.

Hiew said he learnt that Sandakan Municipal Council and the district Welfare Department have also visited the family and discussed ways to help them.

“My team has presented food aid to them as they lost everything after the incident and when I returned to Sandakan, I also visited them to give some contributions.

“The family is poor and I will find way to help them financially as well as in other ways to ease their burdens,” he added.