THREE brothers are among the 21 pupils killed in a predawn fire at a tahfiz school in Kuala Lumpur today, which also claimed the lives of two wardens. 

They are Muhammad Syafiq Haikal Sulaiman, 13, Muhammad Hafiz Iskandar Sulaiman, 11, and Muhammad Harris Ikhwan Sulaiman, 10.

The three, whose father died in 2006, had been living with their aunt in Ampang since early this year.

“Haikal always called me. But yesterday, he called my mother and said he wanted to leave without saying where did he want to go,” the boys’ cousin, Mas Aliza Ali, said at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital mortuary. 

The three, youngest out of six siblings, enrolled at Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah in Jalan Datuk Keramat early this year. 

Their mother, Mashawani Mohamed Shahid, was at the hospital today to offer DNA to facilitate identification of her sons’ remains.

“The last time we met them was during the Aidiladha holiday. One of the brothers, Hafiz, did ask whether he would go to heaven if he died. My brother told him martyrs would go to heaven, not those who committed suicide,” another aunt, Maszaitul Murni, said.

Putrajaya will set up a panel to investigate the tragedy and look into standards and guidelines for tahfiz schools.

Health Minister Dr S. Subramaniam earlier confirmed that the death toll stood at 23. – September 14, 2017.