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.



Iran Uncovers Rigged Device in Nuclear Program, Similar to Pager Attack

A billboard with a picture of late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, late senior Iranian military commander General Qassem Soleimani, late Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and late Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar is seen on a street in Tehran, Iran, January 16, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
A billboard with a picture of late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, late senior Iranian military commander General Qassem Soleimani, late Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and late Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar is seen on a street in Tehran, Iran, January 16, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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Iran Uncovers Rigged Device in Nuclear Program, Similar to Pager Attack

A billboard with a picture of late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, late senior Iranian military commander General Qassem Soleimani, late Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and late Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar is seen on a street in Tehran, Iran, January 16, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
A billboard with a picture of late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, late senior Iranian military commander General Qassem Soleimani, late Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and late Hamas leader Yahya Al-Sinwar is seen on a street in Tehran, Iran, January 16, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran’s Vice President for Strategic Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, revealed that a sabotage attempt targeting the country's uranium enrichment program had been thwarted.

The plot involved a rigged component meant for the country’s centrifuges, which was acquired through intermediaries assisting Iran in evading sanctions.

In a televised interview streamed exclusively online, Zarif cautioned that Iran is facing growing security challenges in acquiring spare parts due to US sanctions.

“Our colleagues had purchased a centrifuge platform for the Atomic Energy Organization, and it was discovered that explosives had been embedded inside it, which they managed to detect," he told the Hozour (Presence) online program.

It was not clear when the alleged incident occurred.

On September 17, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded simultaneously in Beirut’s southern suburbs and its other strongholds. Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani was among the injured.

The attack, followed by a second bombing the next day targeting walkie-talkies, killed 39 people and injured over 3,400.

“The issue with the pagers in Lebanon turned out to be a multi-year process, meticulously orchestrated by the Zionists (Israelis),” said Zarif.

Following the pager explosions, Iranian officials and lawmakers warned of potential Israeli infiltrations similar to the attacks. As a precaution, the communication devices used by Iranian officials underwent security reviews.

This is not the first time Iran has raised concerns over potential infiltration through spare parts. In late August 2023, Iranian state television reported the thwarting of an Israeli "plot" to sabotage its ballistic missile and drone programs using faulty spare parts acquired from a foreign supplier.

Authorities stated the parts could have caused explosions or malfunctions in Iranian missiles before launch.

The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad was accused of orchestrating the shipment of defective parts and electronic chips used in missiles and drones.

A defense ministry official confirmed that a “network of agents” had attempted to introduce the rigged components.

In April 2021, an explosion at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility, which housed hundreds of centrifuges, was blamed on Israel’s Mossad.

Alireza Zakani, then a member of parliament and now Tehran's mayor, said the blast was caused by “300 pounds of explosives planted in equipment sent abroad for repairs.”

The explosion destroyed the electrical distribution system 50 meters underground.