Hours after a fire engulfed their fourth-floor Housing Board flat in Boon Lay on Monday night, the family returned to find that little remained of their home.

The Straits Times met Mr Che Rohisyam Che Zain and his wife Assirah Ekbal yesterday afternoon as they were scouring their ruined two-room flat at Block 191 Boon Lay Drive, searching for salvageable household items.

"Everything is gone. I was looking for my handbag which had about $800 in it, but I couldn't find it," said Madam Assirah, 35, a housewife.

Six people were injured and about 100 residents had to be evacuated as a result of the blaze on Monday. The injured were taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

There was not much to see yesterday beyond ashes and the metal coil of a mattress in the rental flat. The fire had also spread outwards to the corridor.

Mr Rohisyam, a 37-year-old bus driver for tourists, said: "My mother just happened to be visiting us, so this was very bad luck. And now I cannot go to work either."

His mother - Madam Bebas Zakariya, 64 - was the one who discovered the fire, which started on the mattress in the flat's one bedroom at around 10pm.

She alerted her daughter-in-law Madam Assirah, who was asleep in the living room.

Madam Assirah called the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) after their initial attempts to extinguish the fire had failed. She left the flat with her four children and Madam Bebas.

She also called her husband, who was on his way home from work.

Madam Assirah said there were no electrical devices charging in the bedroom when the fire started. The family's personal mobility device was with Mr Rohisyam in his bus at the time of the incident.

The couple have one daughter, 10, and three sons aged between four and nine years old.

The SCDF said it responded to the fire at 10.15pm, putting it out with one water jet.

Among the injured was Madam Bebas, who complained of breathing difficulties. She was subsequently discharged yesterday.

Electricity supply and corridor lighting at Block 191 were back in order at about 2am for most units, and residents were allowed to return to their flats a few hours after the incident.

Nine people in total from Mr Rohisyam's unit and the two adjacent units had to spend the night at the Boon Lay Community Centre, where they were provided with mattresses, pillows, blankets and water.

Madam Assirah told The Straits Times that HDB has arranged for the family to move into a seventh-floor flat in the same block.

The Boon Lay grassroots team has also applied to the South West Community Development Council emergency fund to provide the family with financial relief, Mr Patrick Tay, an MP for West Coast GRC and adviser to Boon Lay grassroots organisations, said in a Facebook post yesterday afternoon.

Mr Rohisyam's immediate neighbours - a father-and-son pair - were also staying at Boon Lay Community Centre.

The younger man, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, said the damage to their flat was limited but they could not return home because the damage was still being assessed and the st-rong burning smell was very unpleasant. He said that his mother was overseas.

The SCDF is currently investigating the cause of the blaze.