At 3.20am on May 13, a house in Kampung Torintidon, Jalan Kampung Lampada, Kota Marudu, Sabah caught fire.
Inside was 16-year-old Lorex Sindam, a teenager with disabilities who could not get out on his own.
His older brother, 28-year-old Razani Sindam, did not wait.
He went into the burning house to get Lorex out.
He came back out without him, with burns across several parts of his body. Villagers rushed Razani to Kota Marudu Hospital.
Lorex did not make it out.
The 22 km journey that went wrong
The Kota Marudu Fire and Rescue Station had dispatched 10 firefighters with a Fire Rescue Tender engine and a Vigo vehicle.
The station was 22km from the kampung.
What should have been a straight run to the scene became something else entirely.
According to station chief Debli Mamoi, as reported by China Press, the fire engine was only able to travel 14km before it could go no further.
The road leading into the village was unpaved. The team had to transfer to another vehicle and cover the remaining 8km that way.
They also faced weak and unstable phone network coverage throughout.
By the time firefighters finally arrived at the scene, it was 4.48am. Eighty-eight minutes had passed since the fire broke out.
The non-permanent house, measuring about 78 square metres, had already been completely destroyed. When they searched through the ruins, they found Lorex’s charred remains inside. His body was handed over to the police.
The operation concluded at 6.53am.
8 km of road: The true cost
The fire broke out at 3.20am. Firefighters arrived at 4.48am. Eighty-eight minutes. And for the last 8km of that journey, the engine that carried the water and the equipment could not move.
Lorex Sindam was 16 years old, living with a disability, in a village where the road to his home was not paved. When the fire came, his brother tried. The firefighters tried.
But the infrastructure that was supposed to connect that village to the rest of the country was not there.
The question is not whether anyone could have done more. The question is whether Lorex would still be alive if the road had simply been paved.
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