Muhammad Amru Daniel Al-Haz Ali, 17, a former student and one of the survivors of the fire, said he was asleep when a friend known as Arif woke him up at 5.30am to tell him the hostel was on fire.
He was giving evidence at the trial of two teenaged boys charged with causing the death of 23 occupants of the tahfiz centre.
Amru said Arif nudged him to get up and “as soon as I opened my eyes I saw flames coming through the hostel door. I panicked, not knowing what to do”.
“I saw all the boys (tahfiz students) rushing towards the windows, to gasp for air and there were loud sounds of wind blowing,” he said when cross examined by deputy public prosecutor Othman Abdullah.
Amru said that was when he heard Ustaz Mohd Yusof Md, 26, who perished in the fire, knocking on the door and telling the students to wake up.
He said although he was panic-stricken he could still discuss with Arif a way out and he managed to dislodge a window grille after pushing it hard.
“I put the grille aside but I could not figure out how to get out. I looked below and thought if I were to jump down I would break my legs. Then I saw a friend Izarudin go out of the window and slid down a pipeline. He was the first to get down,” he said, adding that he then followed suit.
Questioned by Othman about what happened to the rest of the students, Amru said several students used the same way to get down while some jumped from the window and he had tried to help them.
The witness said about half an hour later, the cries for help from those still trapped in the burning building died down.
The two boys, who were then 16 years old, were jointly charged with the murder and causing the death of the 23 people at the Pusat Tahfiz Darul Ittifaqiyah in Jalan Keramat Hujung, Kampung Datuk Keramat, here, between 4.15am and 6.45am on Sept 14 last year.
They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same law, and face the mandatory death sentence, if found guilty.
However Section 97(1) of the Child Act 2001 states that a death sentence shall not be pronounced or recorded against a person convicted of an offence if the child is under the age of 18, and in lieu of the death sentence, as provided under Section 97 (2) of the same law, the court shall order the person to be detained at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Both accused were represented by counsel Haijan Omar.
Hearing before judge Azman Abdullah continues tomorrow.