Kuala Lumpur school fire kills 23 students, 2 teachers

Officials called it one of the country's worst fire disasters for years.

In a tragic incident, at least 25 people were killed, including two teachers, on Thursday when a fire broke out in a Malaysian religious school.

The blaze broke out in the wee hours in the two-storey building, Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah, located in the centre of the capital Kuala Lumpur, reports AFP.

Officials called it one of the country's worst fire disasters for years.

Firefighters contained the fire within an hour but not before it claimed over 20 lives.

Khirudin Drahman, director of Kuala Lumpur's fire and rescue department sais "I think it is one of the country's worst fire disaster in the past 20 years."

A fire department official at the scene said that the blaze broke out in bedrooms before dawn, and firefighters from a nearby station were on the scene within minutes.

The Star newspaper reported that the fire and rescue department had raised concerns about fire safety measures at unregistered and private religious schools -- known as tahfiz, and had recorded 211 fires at the institutions since 2015.

(With agency inputs)