Keningau police chief Yampil anak Garai said an initial investigation revealed that the incident started with a drunken argument between the couple.

He said the argument went out of control when the woman apparently dared her husband to set her on fire.

“The suspect reportedly doused his wife with petrol before lighting a match and throwing it on her.

“Their 16-year-old daughter rushed her two siblings out to save themselves,” Berita Harian quoted Yampil as saying.

He said the daughter put out the flames before attempting to get help from an uncle to save her mother.

The husband later brought the woman to the Sook clinic for treatment before she was taken to Keningau Hospital.

“However, she died at the hospital at 1.40pm on Sunday,” Yampil said.

He said the suspect had been remanded until Friday to assist in the investigations under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.

The suspect did not have any previous criminal conviction and his urine test came back negative for drugs.