Paya Terubong fire and rescue department operations commander Shakir Abdullah identified the victim as G Sri Laavanya.

He said her grandmother suffered burns on her hands but was reported to be in stable condition.

The department received an emergency call at about 11.20pm and the first fire engine reached the scene about five minutes later.

“When firemen arrived at the location, two houses were ablaze. They were told a girl was trapped in one of them.

“After bringing the fire under control, the firefighters checked the premises and found the charred remains of the girl in a bedroom of the first house at 12.33am,” he said.

The firemen managed to prevent the blaze from spreading to other houses. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

In an update, Timur Laut district police chief Soffian Santong said the girl was found charred at the back of the bed in her father’s room.

“The fire involved three rented houses including the residence of the victim who lived with her father and grandparents. Her mother is deceased.

“During the incident, the father was not at home and only her grandparents were around. In their haste to save themselves, the victim’s grandparents ran out of the house and did not have time to find the victim as the fire was raging.

“According to them, the victim would normally sleep in her own bedroom but yesterday she was sleeping in her father’s room which was the reason why they could not locate the victim initially,” he told Bernama today.