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Girl, 15, saves schoolmates from fire in Malaysia religious school hostel

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REMBAU, NEGERI SEMBILAN: A 15-year-old student of a religious school in Malaysia saved the lives of her 36 schoolmates when she raised the alarm after seeing that the ceiling of their hostel was on fire.

Nur Athirah Izzati Shamsul Murfiz, a student at Sekolah Tinggi Islam As Sofa in Negeri Sembilan, was about to sleep, around 1.30am on Thursday, when she noticed sparks coming from the ceiling.

At first, she thought nothing of it.

State Fire and Rescue Department chief Norazam Khamis said that when the sparks got bigger and brighter, Nur Athirah woke up her sleeping hostel mates, and they quickly made their way out of the single-storey building.

Mr Norazam said the fire spread quickly - within minutes, it had engulfed the inner section of the hostel, which is about 4km from the main school complex.

"Three girls had breathing difficulties and were taken to Tampin Hospital for outpatient treatment," he said.

He added that there were six other people, including two women wardens and two women employees, at the hostel when the fire broke out. Two others were on guard duty.

"When the firemen arrived 10 minutes after getting a call from a warden, the hostel was already half razed.

"But we managed to put out the flames within 30 minutes and saved a surau (assembly building) and an adjoining hall," he said.

He confirmed that the school had complied with safety aspects and had a certificate of completion and compliance.

This incident comes weeks after a fire gutted a religious school in Kuala Lumpur, killing 23 pupils.

Two teenagers were charged with murder on Thursday in connection with that fire. - THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

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