If my son dies, he's a martyr, says mum
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THE bodies of those who died in a pre-dawn fire at the Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah religious school today have arrived at Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
They were brought by police lorry, the first with 12 bodies at 10.30am, and another batch at 11.47am, to the mortuary where family members of the victims are also gathered.
A 47-year-old mother Mazzaini Muda said her 13-year-old son, Ahmad Rijal Mohd Rodzi, has yet to be accounted for.
“Police have yet to confirm (whether my son is one of the victims) but what I heard is that he’s gone because they can’t find him at the school.
“That’s why I’m here,” she said, choking back tears.
Mazzaini arrived at the hospital at 11am with her husband who was told of the incident at 7am.
“I was getting ready to go to work when we received the news,” she said.
Her son is the youngest son of four siblings.
Adib Akhil, 11, was luckier, escaping with 30% burns on the hands and arms.
His mother, Siti Wahida, was in shock over the incident as the boy only started studying at the school on Jalan Datuk Keramat one month ago.
Adib was a good boy and loved attending the school, she said.
“He loved going to that school. Whenever he was home he would talk about how fun it was. I never thought this would happen, he had just been there for only a month,” Siti Wahida said before breaking down.
A parent managed to speak to his son, a pupil at the school, before the boy passed out.
Sharifuddin Musa, 45, who lives near the school, said he was awoken around 5am by banging on the front door and shouts that the school was on fire.
“When I arrived, I managed to get my son. He was able to talk and show me the burns on his back before he fainted,” he said.
His son is still unconscious in hospital and reportedly in critical condition.
Most parents of the pupils have arrived at the hospital but there are a few travelling from Kelantan.
Muhammad Danial Amru Al-Haz Ali, 16, was at the third floor of the dormitory building when he felt the heat from the fire, which woke him.
“It felt like the fire was directly in front of me. It was terrifying.
“I forcefully removed the window grille and saved six of my friends. We then slid down to the ground using the pipe,” he told reporters at the HKL emergency room.
An ustaz, who has worked at the tahfiz for seven months, said he woke up to the sound of gas hissing from above.
“It sounded like a storm to me,” Mohd Arif Mawardy, 24, said.
During the incident, he was on the second floor with three other ustaz.
He then woke about seven pupils before going to the first floor as the fire on the third floor of the building was too big.
“We couldn’t save all of them. There was not enough water to put out the fire,” he said, holding back tears. – September 14, 2017.