Muhammad Hafizmullah Muhd Nor, 30, who works at the Keramat Fire Station said at the time, he and his team had just arrived at the tahfiz centre, six minutes after receiving the distress call at 5.41am, on Sept 14, 2017.
He said flames were coming out of the windows on the third floor of the building and there were cries for help from inside the burning building.
“At the time, it (the premises) was 70%, 80% burnt. I heard someone screaming for help near the edge of the top floor’s window.
“The first one saved was a baby boy. There was a man holding the baby, clinging on to the metal casing and squatting on the compressor unit outside the window,” he said, adding that his colleague, Osman, placed a ladder near the compressor and brought the baby down, followed by the man.
The 20th prosecution witness said this during an examination-in-chief by Kuala Lumpur prosecution director Othman Abdullah, on the 8th day of the trial against two teenagers charged with killing 21 students and two wardens at the tahfiz centre.
Hafizmullah said the man then told his team that there were three more individuals – a woman and two girls on the third floor. Osman then went up the ladder again to try and save them.
“Osman got back up and brought down a girl. After that, he (Osman) went up again, broke a door, and they (Osman, a woman and a girl) all came down,” he said.
After rescuing the five individuals, he said no more cries were heard, and he and another colleague proceeded to the third floor to douse the fire.
Hafizmullah said once the fire had subsided, he switched on his torch to survey the dormitory and saw a skull.
“I thought it was an old cloth, there were corpses, skulls, I don’t know how many,” said Hafizmullah, adding he then went down to report this to the operation leader, Suhaimi Abdul Shukor.
The witness said as soon as the forensics department had finished marking evidence at the scene, he and his colleagues were instructed to bring down the corpses using stretchers and placed them in a police truck.
Two teenagers, who were 16 at the time of the incident, were jointly charged with killing and causing the death of 23 residents at the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah Tahfiz Centre located on Jalan Keramat Hujung, Kampung Datuk Keramat, Wangsa Maju, here between 4.15am and 6.45am, on Sept 14, 2017.
They each face 23 counts of murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same Act, which provides for a mandatory death sentence, upon conviction.
Section 97 (1) of the Child Act 2001 states, however, that the death sentence cannot be imposed on juvenile offenders under the age of 18, but the court may imprison them for a time period determined by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, while Section 94 of the same Act also empowers the court to order the parents of the two teenagers to be penalised or to pay compensation.
The trial before Judge Azman Abdullah continues tomorrow.