Malaysian Fire and Rescue personnel stand outside the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah religious school in Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 14, 2017. Twenty-five people, mostly teenage boys, were killed 14 when a blaze tore through the school. (Photo by Sadiq Asyraf/AFP)
Twenty-four people have died in a blaze that ripped through a religious school in Malaysia on Sept. 14.
Officials described the tragedy as one of the country’s worst fire disasters in years.
The fire broke out in the early hours on Sept 14 in a two-story building at the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah school, in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
Firefighters manage to put the blaze out within an hour but the damage to the building was extensive.
"It really does not make sense for so many to die in the fire. I think it is one of the country’s worst fire disasters in the past 20 years," Khirudin Drahman, the head of Kuala Lumpur's fire department, said.
He said 22 students and two adult wardens were killed in the blaze.
Reports said many of those who died were trapped in a dormitory which had metal grills over the windows
"We are now investigating the cause of the fire," he said.
A fire department official at the scene said the blaze broke out in a dormitory and quickly spread even though firefighters from a nearby station reached the scene in minutes.