Kuala Krai fire and rescue station chief Nik Ahmad Afsham Nik Pa said the department received an emergency call around 8:30pm before dispatching a team.

He said 21 personnel from the Kuala Krai and Sungai Durian stations, as well as the Guchil volunteer team, were involved in the operation.

“Upon arrival, we found that the premises selling Chinese prayer items were about 90% destroyed by the fire,” Bernama reported him as saying.

He said the couple were taken to Sultan Ismail Petra Hospital for treatment.

Witness Nur Husna Hamat, 23, said she and her colleague Mazlin Izzati Che Mat Nawi, 22, were working at a grocery shop next door when they heard a loud explosion and saw flames spreading from the premises, prompting her to immediately call for help.