Fire damages Alleycats singer's house

By A. Sangeetha | Malay Mail

GEORGE TOWN: The widow of late Allleycats member Datuk Loganathan Arumugam was distraught when she could not save memorabilia belonging to her husband from their burning home here yesterday.

Datuk David Arumugam said his sister--in--law, Datin Susan Lovie, 55, suffered minor burns to her arm and singed her hair trying to salvaging items memorabilia belonging to Loga from their home in Jalan Azyze, Tanjung Bungah, from the blaze about 11am.

"Susan now lives with her brother in the house. They were watching the Olympics downstairs when they heard a loud explosion upstairs. Then they saw smoke arise.

"She tried to run upstairs to save my brother's awards, records and photographs, but the smoke was too thick. She is also asthmatic and was prevented by her brother from going upstairs several times."

David, 62, said it was believed out of 40 records, only five were salvaged as the roof and much of the upstairs were destroyed.

He said Lovie, who had been living in the rented house for 12 years with Loga, was too upset because she could not save anything from the house due to the damage caused by the fire and water.

David said he was staying in a hotel nearby after arriving from Kuala Lumpur yesterday when Lovie's brother, Kelvin Boudville, 46, called him about the fire. "We want to thank the fire department and police for putting out the fire fast."

He said his nephew L. Vigneswaran, 29, and niece Priyadarshini, 24, were not at home as they left for Kuala Lumpur about 8.30am after Lovie dropped them off at the Sungai Nibong bus terminal.

"Vigneswaran worked in KL and his sister, a part--time singer, had a stint there."

He said Lovie had insisted on staying at the house for fear of looters. "She has no where to go. We have asked her to move to KL but she insists on staying here."