SHOP FIRE | Victim’s friend reveals details on dreadful attic conditions

Judiciary Police agents inspect the shop

A close friend of an Indonesian killed in a shop fire on Wednesday has unveiled details on the dreadful conditions of the attic, where at least two Indonesian women were living in when the fire broke.
The blaze started in the early hours of Wednesday in a clothes shop on Rua do Tarrafeiro, near St Anthony’s Church, and killed two Indonesians (one man and a woman) and two Filipino nationals.
According to the victim’s close friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, at least two people were living in the attic above the boutique, which contradicts the shop owner’s previous statements.
“It’s a small attic, very hot, with a very small window. Downstairs [in the shop], they had a toilet, a stove, and a washing machine,” she said.
The boutique owner told the Judiciary Police that they had allowed their domestic worker named Yati Nurhayati, the Indonesian woman who died, to live above their shop. However, her close friend has challenged these statements, assuring The Times that the worker killed did not live alone in the attic.
Instead, our source alleges that the victim was living with another Indonesian woman, who was paying the shop owner MOP500 as rent.
The friend did not know, however, if there were more people living in the attic besides the two Indonesian women.
She used to visit her friend often at the tiny studio, as they stayed close friends since they met back in Indonesia in 2009. They attended the same training program before heading to Hong Kong to work in 2010.
She said that they came to Macau in 2011 and that her friend had been working for the shop owner ever since.
The friend claims that the Indonesian woman who was also living in the attic had a recent issue with the shop owner, who was seeking to raise her rent from MOP500 to MOP700.
According to her story, the other Indonesian woman left the shop before the fire broke, and has allegedly disappeared since then. She has raised doubts over why she hasn’t come forward. “Why did the girl who was living with my friend since 2011 disappear?” she questioned.
She said that her friend’s family has already been contacted by Indonesian authorities. Yati Nurhayati was a widow and is survived by a small child who lives in Indonesia.
Yesterday, the Judiciary Police revealed further details of the incident. According to witness testimonies, three residents heard loud noises coming from the shop during the fire. Also, witnesses said that the shop’s metal gate had been kicked open. A police spokesman said that was because three people tried to help victims trapped inside the shop.
“Two [people] banged on the door and shouted out loud for help, one of them even successfully kicked open the metal gate of the shop, but the fire was too strong and the smoke was too heavy and they couldn’t get in there,” stated PJ’s spokesman Chan Kin Hong, as quoted by TDM News.
The police spokesman said that for now they are not treating the case as suspicious of being related to criminal or rental affairs.
The Indonesian and Philippines consulates have assisted authorities in identifying the victims, whose remains were so severely burnt that at first not even gender could be verified.
The vice consul of the Philippine Consulate in General in Macau, Ira Micheline R. Valdez, told The Times that authorities have identified the two victims, one male and one female. She said that the consulate cannot release the identity of the two Filipino nationals out of respect for their families.
“Our department of foreign affairs in Manila has been in contact with their families back home and we have also spoken with one victim’s girlfriend who lived here in Macau. We’re extending her assistance,” Ms Valdez said, adding that the deceased were aged 22 and 46. Catarina Pinto and Paulo Barbosa