Five foreign workers were burnt to death in "workers hostel"....

When was the last Occupational Health and Safety inspection? What about this HOSTEL - was there adequate fire escapes? Do they not need to get the Fire Department's approval for these hostels? Were there fire extinguishers in that "Hostel"?

Really there is a need to look into these "workers hostels" and accommodation - there must be minimum standards set.

Was the workers hostel situated above the furniture factory - is this safe? A lot of questions ----- but will they be answered? After all, we do have more than 2 million migrant workers - so the "burning to death" of 5 migrant workers is not a BIG DEAL -- hopefully that is not the attitude that will be taken.

They may not have the choice of choosing their place of residents - in some safe place - and now they are dead. Will they be covered by SOCSO or Workmen's Compensation? Or not --- because they were not at work --- but were sleeping (presumably it was not during working hours).

We have many migrant workers in Malaysia living in such bad --- and dangerous environment - and it is time for the GOVERNMENT to look into this.

This happened in SELANGOR -- and the Pakatan Rakyat government has the opportunity to do something about it.

INVESTIGATION please.....

Wednesday May 28, 2008 MYT 3:59:35 PM

Five foreign workers killed in factory blaze

By KULDEEP S. JESSY

PETALING JAYA: Five foreign workers were burnt to death after being trapped in a furniture factory during a pre-dawn fire in Subang Permai here.

The four Bangladeshis and a Myanmar were believed to have been fast asleep on the first floor of the three-storey building when the fire broke out at about 2am Wednesday.

Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Arjunaidi Mohamed said the foreigners, aged between 20 and 30, were unable to escape as the fire spread quickly.

Their charred remains were sent to the University Malaya Medical Centre for post-mortem.

Selangor Fire and Rescue Department (operations division) Supt Ramli Yusoff said 43 firemen and two officers in five engines from the Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam, Subang Jaya and Port Klang stations went to the scene at about 2.18am.

He said the firemen took about an hour to put out the blaze. The first body was recovered at about 4.30am.

Supt Ramli said initial investigations showed that the fire started from the first floor, which was the workers’ hostel.

He said 17 foreign workers stayed at the hotel, adding that 12 others managed to escape without any injuries.