Malaysia School Fire Leaves 24 Dead

Police and fire department work at the religious school Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah after a fire broke out in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia September 14, 2017. (REUTERS Photo)
Police and fire department work at the religious school Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah after a fire broke out in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia September 14, 2017. (REUTERS Photo)
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Malaysia School Fire Leaves 24 Dead

Police and fire department work at the religious school Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah after a fire broke out in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia September 14, 2017. (REUTERS Photo)
Police and fire department work at the religious school Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah after a fire broke out in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia September 14, 2017. (REUTERS Photo)

Twenty-four people, mostly teenage boys, were killed Thursday when a blaze tore through a religious boarding school in Malaysia, in what officials said was one of the country's worst fire disasters for years.

The blaze broke out before dawn in the tahfiz -- an Islamic religious school -- in the heart of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Firefighters rushed to the scene and the blaze was out within an hour but not before it wreaked terrible devastation.

Officials suspected an electrical short circuit caused the fire that broke out in a top floor dormitory, where most of the students perished.

Pictures in local media showed ash-covered, fire-blackened beds, as horrific accounts emerged of the youngsters trying to escape the school as it went up in flames and neighbors hearing their cries for help.

"The children were desperately trying to escape the flames," Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said in a television interview.

Metal grills prevented them from exiting the burning three-story building, he said.

Kuala Lumpur Police chief Amar Singh said that "the bodies were totally burned".

"Unfortunately there was only one entrance, so they could not escape. All the bodies were found lumped on one another."

The Star newspaper reported that people in the area who had woken for morning prayers heard cries for help and saw flames engulfing the top floor of the building.

Officials initially said 23 students and two teachers were killed in the blaze. Police later revised down the death toll to 22 students and two teachers.

Six other students were in hospital in critical condition, police chief Singh said, while a handful escaped unhurt.

He said the victims, who were students, were all boys aged between 13 and 17.

Khirudin Drahman, director of Kuala Lumpur's fire and rescue department told AFP it was one of the country's worst fire tragedies in 20 years.

Officials said based on the records of the Kuala Lumpur fire safety department, the school had just submitted a request for fire safety approval for the building but no checks had been carried as the request was still being processed.



Rubio Arrives for NATO Talks as Allies Wait to Learn of US Plans for a Likely Drawdown in Europe

US' Secretary of State Marco Rubio steps off the plane as they arrive for a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / POOL / AFP)
US' Secretary of State Marco Rubio steps off the plane as they arrive for a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / POOL / AFP)
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Rubio Arrives for NATO Talks as Allies Wait to Learn of US Plans for a Likely Drawdown in Europe

US' Secretary of State Marco Rubio steps off the plane as they arrive for a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / POOL / AFP)
US' Secretary of State Marco Rubio steps off the plane as they arrive for a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / POOL / AFP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Trump administration’s new envoy to NATO arrived Thursday in Brussels, where the alliance’s top diplomats are hoping they’ll shed light on US security plans in Europe.

European allies and Canada are deeply concerned by President Donald Trump’s readiness to draw closer to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who sees NATO as a threat, as the US works to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine, The Associated Press said.

Recent White House comments and insults directed at NATO allies Canada and Denmark — as well as the military alliance itself — have raised alarm and confusion, especially with new US tariffs targeting US friends and foes alike.

Since Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned last month that US security priorities lie elsewhere — in Asia and on the US's own borders — the Europeans have waited to learn how big a military drawdown in Europe could be and how fast it may happen.

In Europe and Canada, governments are working on “burden shifting” plans to take over more of the load, while trying to ensure that no security vacuum is created if US troops and equipment are withdrawn from the continent.

These allies are keen to hear from Rubio what the Trump administration’s intentions are and hope to secure some kind of roadmap that lays out what will happen next and when, so they can synchronize planning and use European forces to plug any gaps.

In a statement, newly confirmed US ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker said that “under President Trump’s leadership, NATO will be stronger and more effective than ever before, and I believe that a robust NATO can continue to serve as a bedrock of peace and prosperity.”

But he added: “NATO’s vitality rests on every ally doing their fair share.”

Whitaker affirmed the US commitment to NATO’s collective security guarantee, which says that an attack on any ally must be considered an attack on them all, but that his brief would also be to encourage Europe to lead on “peace, security, and the rebuilding of Ukraine.”

The statement said allies should demonstrate that NATO takes seriously threats from China.