Tahfiz school fire an act of arson

PUTRAJAYA: The Fire and Rescue Department has confirmed that the deadly blaze at a tahfiz school last week, which resulted in the death of 23 people, was an act of arson.

Its director-general, Datuk Wan Mohd Nor Ibrahim, said the department found that the fire started at the door of the dormitory, located on the third floor of the building.

He said petrol residue was found on a towel rack, shoe rack and the wall in front of the dormitory door.

The fire spread quickly due to the presence of cooking gas, that was released from two cylinders found in front of the door.

“The fire spread to the ceiling and burned the entrance to the dormitory.

“The abundance of fire load ( flammable contents) i n the dormitory caused the flames to spread rapidly in a short time,” he told a press conference to announce the fire investigation report at the department’s headquarters yesterday.

The fire on Sept 13 at the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah school in Datuk Keramat, Kuala Lumpur, resulted in the deaths of 21 students and two wardens.

On Sept 16, police arrested seven youths aged between 11 and 18 years in relation to the tragedy.

The government had since established a special task force to investigate the incident as well as to set better operational guidelines for tahfiz schools nationwide.

Wan Mohd Nor said the two gas cylinders were found to have been emptied, with the valve opened.

Samples collected at the scene were s ubmitted t o t he f i r e investigation laboratory in Kuala Lumpur and were found to contain residue of a flammable liquid.

The tragedy was the second major fire incident involving a tahfiz school, after a 1989 case in Kedah that claimed the lives of 27 students.