Two young sisters trapped in a locked room while their mother went to market died in a pre-dawn fire which destroyed more than 50 houses in Georgetown, Penang, reports said today.

Umi Kalsum Harun, 38, who is seven months pregnant, fainted when she saw the bodies of her daughters Arwani, 2, and Marid, 3, carried out by firemen.

Their charred remains had been found huddled together in the family's rented room after would-be rescuers who heard them calling for their mother were driven back by the flames.

"I didn't think this could happen as I have often locked them in the room when I went out," the distraught mother told reporters.

"What am I going to do now? My children are gone and my husband, a drug addict, was arrested by the police five days ago."

A total of 450 people were left homeless after Tuesday's fire, which took 78 firefighters several hours to control, the New Straits Times reported.

The cause of the fire has not yet been established, but police said they had not ruled out arson. — AFP