Another tahfiz school fire, hostel destroyed, no casualties

PETALING JAYA: Yet another tahfiz school hostel has been turned to rubble due to a fire, this time in Kampung Bukit Lanchung, in Shah Alam, but there were no casualties, New Straits Times reported.

Flames were spotted on the second level of the school building by a student who left a Quran reciting session, after the 7pm Mahgrib prayer, to go to the restroom.

“We were reciting the Quran after Maghrib prayer when one of us went to the restroom. He noticed a strange smell and saw a bright light coming from upstairs.

“He alerted the others in the classroom, including our teacher, before several of us went to check and found out that the hostel was on fire.

“Our ustaz immediately ordered all of us to get to safety and called the authorities,” Muhammad Farhan Muzabfar, 14, was quoted as saying by the daily.

He added that there were 13 students in the premises at the time.

Meanwhile, Ihya Ul-Quran Tahfiz Academy warden Mohd Khairul Ni’mat Doll Kawaid told NST that the fire may have been sparked from an even earlier incident.

“A pillow at the hostel caught fire yesterday afternoon, possibly caused by a burning mosquito coil.

“Some students sprayed the pillow and area around it with water before cleaning up the whole hostel.

“However, it is possible that embers from the pillow had affected other spots. Between noon and 8pm, we certainly did not notice any smoke or any other signs of a fire,” he was quoted as saying.

Khairul added that fire and rescue department officials had already visited the school following last month’s tragedy in which a tahfiz school in Keramat, Kuala Lumpur was destroyed in a fire which killed 21 students and two wardens.

“The school added fire extinguishers and renovated the emergency staircase according to the department’s recommendation.

“But during last night’s fire, the students did not attempt to fight the blaze as all of them were already on the ground floor and managed to escape quickly,” he said.

Selangor fire and rescue department assistant director of operations Mohd Sani Harul told NST that two fire trucks with 14 firemen were despatched to fight the blaze after receiving a call at 8.28pm.

“Our men managed to control the blaze from spreading to other areas of the school. However, at least 20% of the hostel, that is about 83 square metres in size, was completely destroyed,” he was quoted as saying. -FMT