The Sabah fire and rescue department operations centre said the 51-year-old victim was crushed by debris in the incident.

“The victim was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital by passersby before firefighters arrived at the scene,” the department said in a statement today.

An emergency call was made to its operations centre at 8pm and two fire engines with 13 personnel arrived at the location five minutes later.

Firefighters conducted an inspection and ordered the public to evacuate the building for safety reasons before concluding the operation at 9.38pm.