21 boys who died in school fire buried in Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Twenty-one young boys who died in a fire at a private Islamic boarding school were buried in Malaysia on Friday amid renewed calls for better regulation of religious schools.
The charred bodies were released to family members after being identified through DNA testing. Islamic authorities and grieving family members held prayers for the victims at the hospital mosque before the bodies were taken to cemeteries.
Eleven of the boys were buried outside Kuala Lumpur, where hundreds of relatives and well-wishers mourned as the bodies, wrapped in white shrouds, were lowered into the graves. In another cemetery about a half hour away, two siblings and their cousin were laid to rest in the same grave, the Star newspaper said. Others were taken to their hometowns. The burials were sponsored and arranged by state Islamic authorities.
The pre-dawn blaze Thursday at a three-story “tahfiz” school, where Muslim boys study and memorize the Qur’an, blocked the lone exit to the dormitory, trapping students behind barred windows. Officials said the school was operating without a fire safety permit and license, and that a dividing wall was illegally built on the top floor that blocked the victims from a second exit.