BALING: A building housing the canteen of the Baling Hospital was razed in a pre-dawn fire earlier today.
In the 4.25am incident, canteen workers were getting ready for the day when the fire broke out on one of the stoves in the kitchen.
One of the workers tried to put out the fire using a fire extinguisher, but the fire was spreading very quickly.
Subsequently, all the workers evacuated the building and sought help.
Assistant Superintendent Mohd Sufian Alias, who led the operation to put out the fire, said the first fire truck arrived at the scene about 4.30am after they received a distress call.
"We managed to put out the fire in 30 minutes. The building was 80 per cent burnt," he said.
Hospital authorities have estimated the losses from the fire at RM320,000.
However, there were no casualties reported, and no other buildings in the vicinity were affected as the canteen was not connected to any
other building.
A gas leak has been identified as the cause of the fire.