In pictures: A tale of fire and loss
Over 500 residents from Putra Heights in Subang Jaya and the surrounding area were forced to move to temporary relief centres due to the huge blast which left many homeless.
Photographs by MalaysiaNow
The huge fireball that erupted on the morning of April 1 due to a leak in an underground gas pipeline in Putra Heights, Subang Jaya.
The blaze ripped through housing areas in the vicinity, damaging and destroying hundreds of homes and vehicles, and leaving behind a crater 32 feet deep and 70 x 80 feet wide.
Over 500 residents were evacuated to temporary relief centres while many others were hospitalised due to burns and respiratory troubles.
A firefighter sprays water on a house gutted by the huge blaze. Hundreds of personnel from 11 agencies were involved in the efforts to extinguish the fire and rescue the residents.
Many residents lost their homes and everything in them.
Others suffered less extensive losses but will still struggle to put their lives back together.
Mohmad Johar Misri, who lives in Kampung Kuala Sungai Baru, Puchong, suffered second degree burns to his shoulders and legs while fleeing his home.
Roofs were torn from houses, and even the trees and greenery in the area were not spared.
Evacuees fill the relief centre at the Putra Heights Mosque, which took in 485 victims from 110 families.
An elderly woman sits in a wheelchair outside the orange tent which is her only home at the moment.
Other residents sort through piles of clothing donated by members of the public. Many of them fled their homes with only the clothes on their backs in their haste to escape the blaze which occurred on the second day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
Still others receive treatment for minor injuries as they struggle to come to terms with the incident.
Salawati Zakaria was in her hometown of Sungkai, Perak, when the blast occurred. She and her family hurried back after receiving a call from a neighbour who told them that their car and rented house had been destroyed.
Selangor crown prince Tengku Amir Shah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah (left) visits the family of Mohd Nasir Abdul Hamid, who also lost their home in the blaze.
Nabila Johar, who suffered burns on her arms, arranges her possessions in her tent.
A family gathers in their temporary home to mark the third day of Hari Raya.
A few containers of Hari Raya snacks are all that this family has to remind them of the occasion.
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