2 days ago
55 students escape dorm fire after going to surau for prayers
BALING: "We heard the cook from the canteen screaming that the boys' dormitory was on fire. At that moment, all 55 male students had just begun their Dhuha prayers in the surau about 15 minutes earlier," said the warden of the boys' dormitory at SMA Diniah Islamiah.
Mohamad Amirul Amin Yusof, 30, recounted the terrifying moment when the building was engulfed in flames earlier today.
He said the incident occurred at around 7.30am, shortly after the students, aged between eight and 12, had gathered at the surau.
"Thankfully, they had already left the dormitory. If not, the outcome could have been tragic," he said.
He said some copies of the Quran stored in the dormitory were either remarkably untouched by the flames or only slightly burned, despite the structure being almost entirely destroyed.
"The fire was mostly contained by firemen who arrived quickly at the scene. Still, almost all of the boys' belongings were lost," he said.
He added that the private religious school had been operating for many years, with the dormitory blocks for both boys and girls built around the year 2000.
The boys' dormitory, he said, had a wooden upper floor and a concrete lower level. The girls' dormitory, which houses 43 students, was unaffected as it was located on the other side of the canteen.
"For now, the boys are being temporarily housed in the surau. They've lost everything," he said.
