Malaysia School Fire Kills 23 Children & Teachers

Twenty-three people, mostly children, were killed Thursday by a blaze that tore through a Malaysian religious school, trapping them in a dormitory with metal grilles barring its windows.

Pupils and teachers inside the Islamic study centre in downtown Kuala Lumpur screamed for help as neighbours looked on helplessly.

Many of the bodies of the victims -- who included 21 boys mostly in their teens -- were found piled on top of one another, indicating there may have been a stampede as the students sought to escape the inferno, which erupted before dawn.


Firefighters rushed to the scene and the blaze was out within an hour but it wreaked terrible devastation. Pictures showed ash-covered, fire-blackened beds in the students' sleeping quarters.