April 2, 2013
M-Media
Thuta
Swardikiyah Islamic religious school, on 48th Street, Botathaung Township, was on fire this morning at 2:45 am, and 13 schoolchildren were burnt alive.
The school is located at No.181, 48th Street (Upper Block), Botathaung, and it is next to a mosque. Over a hundred students from all over the country study and memorize the Holy Qur’an there. Now, as the school is temporarily close, there were about 70 students only, and when the fire broke out, 55 of them could escape from fire, but unfortunately, 13 of them, who were under thirteen-year-old children, were burnt alive in fire.
The fire started around 2:45 and could be put out by 3:30. It was reported that the fire was claimed to be arson. It started first from the shoe-cabinet. When the students ran out on knowing the fire had broken out, the slipped on the staircase as it was wet with the petroleum oil, and they could sense the smell of it. The school was a two-storey building, and it was known that only inside the building was on fire.
M-Media could interview two 15-year-old students who had escaped from the burning: “Our school is two-storeyed. We didn’t know that it was on fire at first. When we realized that the fire had spread. We ran down the staircase, and we slipped on the oil spilled on the floor. There are about 70 students in our school for the time being. Now (at the time of the interview) 51 students have escaped. The school didn’t store any flammables like gasoline or petroleum. The fire started from the shoe cabinet. Our shirts still smell the gasoline now.”
“I am now at the burnt place. Fire didn’t catch the mosque, it was only inside the school. Three fire engines got here and put out fire. Children who were burnt were found together at one place. To my surprise, one of them didn’t catch fire at all but died, and one more thing, as they all were supposed to be asleep in their bed, I cannot understand why they all were burnt to death at one place together. Now, the reason of the fire was told to be wire-shock. Indeed, it cannot be. I talked to people who live in that street, and they told me they heard a loud banging sound two hours before, but they didn’t pay attention to where it came from. Later, they said they saw fire from the school, for that at first they thought it was only candlelight, and only sooner they learnt the school was on fire. Now the dead bodies have been taken to the hospital, and those who had escaped were put in a camp. I am sure it was not wire-shock, it was definitely arson”, said a witness from the fire-spot to M-Media.
Photo- Myanmar Muslim Net
