Dozens Dead As Fire Razes Islamic School In Malaysia

A fire at an Islamic boarding school for
boys killed at least 24 people, most of
them students, in the Malaysian capital of
Kuala Lumpur on Thursday morning,
officials said.



Officials suspected an electrical short
circuit caused the blaze that broke out in
a top floor dormitory, where most of the
students perished.



The fire at Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah, a
‘tahfiz’ boarding school where students
learn to memorize the Koran, was
reported around 5.40 a.m. local time
(2140 GMT Wednesday), according to a
statement from the Malaysian Fire and
Rescue Department.



The blaze began in the sleeping quarters
on the top floor of the three-storey school
building, the statement said.




Kuala Lumpur police chief Amar Singh told
reporters that 22 students and 2 wardens
were killed.




All the students were boys
aged 13-17, and they probably suffocated
due to smoke inhalation.




“They’re still counting the bodies, which
were piled on top of each other in a
corner,” Singh said in the aftermath of
one of the worst fires in Malaysia during
the past two decades.



The dormitory had only one entrance,
leaving many of the victims trapped
inside, he said. Some witnesses said they
had heard the students crying for help
after the fire broke out.



“The building was surrounded by metal
grills that could not be opened from the
inside.




The students, after realizing the
fire and heavy smoke, tried to escape
through the window,” said Fire and
Rescue Department operations deputy
director Soiman Jahid told reporters
outside the school.



“But because of the grills, they could not
escape,” he said.




Soiman said they were still investigating
the cause of the fire but it was likely
caused by short circuit or a lit mosquito
repellant coil.



A man identified only as Hazin, who lived
next door to the school, said his son
called the fire department after they heard
screams and saw the flames.



“The children were crying for help, but I
couldn’t help them as the door was
already on fire,” he said.




“I only managed to save a few of the kids
who jumped out the window.”



Hazin said his friend’s son was among the
students who perished.



“We ran there because he knew he was
inside, but I couldn’t save him. He was
trapped inside,” he said.




While the emergency services removed
the victims and inspected the site,
distraught parents were seen crying as
they spoke with officials on the street
where hundreds of people had gathered.



Viewed from outside the only obvious tell-
tale signs of disaster at the school were
the blackened upper floor windows, as
otherwise the tin roofed building
appeared unscathed, with a Malaysian flag
hanging limply from the yellow external
walls.




Only inside did the intensity of the inferno
become clear, as the dormitory was
completely blackened, lined with the
charred frames of bunk beds where the
boys had slept.




Several of the 18 survivors were taken to
hospital to be treated for injuries, officials
said.



Trucks carrying bodies of the victims
were seen arriving at the morgue.



Tahfiz schools, which are unregulated by
the education ministry and fall under the
purview of the religious department, have
been under scrutiny since earlier this year
when an 11-year-old boy died after
reported abuse in Johor, north of
Singapore.




Officials said based on the records of the
Kuala Lumpur fire safety department, the
school had just submitted a request for
fire safety approval for the building but
no checks had been carried as at the
request was still being processed.