KUALA LUMPUR: Six students who survived the pre-dawn blaze at a religious school here are in critical condition, a Hospital Kuala Lumpur spokesman said today.
He said the six students were admitted to the hospital’s Red Zone, but the extent of their injuries is not yet known.
One of them, Mohd Sahir Sharifuddin, 11, survived by breaking and jumping out of a third floor window.
The spokesman said 21 other students are currently seeking outpatient treatment at the hospital.
Sahir’s father, Sharifuddin Musa, 45, said he was notified of the incident by one of the school’s workers this morning.
“Sahir’s friends told me that he jumped out of the building and luckily, he landed on an awning.
“He sustained burns on his back and is currently unconscious,” he said when met at the hospital.
Sharifuddin, who is a surau committee member near the school, said the fire could have been caused by two gas cylinders on the building’s third floor.
“The building was completed a year and half ago. It’s a new building and there should be no problems with the electrical wiring.
“The question is, why were the two gas cylinders there?”
A school teacher who survived the fire said he woken up at 5.30am by “hissing sounds” on the third floor.
Ustaz Mohd Arif Mawardy said he was on the second floor when the fire broke out.
“The hissing sounded like a storm to me. I was with three other ustaz and I woke them up to save the students sleeping on the third floor.
“Unfortunately, the fire was huge. We had to run to the ground floor instead. We couldn’t save the students. There was not enough water to extinguish the fire,” said Arif, who was teary-eyed.
He was at the hospital to visit the injured students.