Twenty-two students at a religious school in Sandakan were able to escape unharmed when a fire broke out at the Al Fattah Madrasah building. The children managed to flee the building block before the fire spread and completely destroyed the madrasah at Kampung Sungai Tiram Batu 19 in Sandakan at 1.15am on Sunday (Dec 24).
The Sabah Fire and Rescue Services Department received a distress call at 1.33am and quickly deployed three fire trucks and 15 firemen to the scene. By the time they arrived, most of the wooden structure of the building block had already been destroyed.
The firemen were able to bring the fire under control by 3.34am and ended their operations at 4.19am. Fortunately, there were no casualties in the incident. The cause of the fire is still under investigation,” a spokesman for the department said.
Sandakan Fire Station chief Severinus Sainkui revealed that firemen initially received a call about a fire involving an electricity fault. However, about 10 minutes later, they were informed that the fire was at the madrasah building involving an area where student activities were carried out.
