A fire at a mosque cum religious school that killed more than a dozen Muslim children in Burma on Tuesday was the result of an electrical fire and not arson, according to officials who sought to assuage fears it was linked to bloody sectarian violence that has devastated the country in recent weeks.
Rangoon division Chief Minister Myint Swe told reporters that the fire at the two-story building in Bothahtaung township which left 13 children dead was sparked by an overheated transformer and had nothing to do with any “criminal activity.”
“The fire was started by an overheated transformer that was located under a stairwell. The kids were killed because … they couldn’t get out in time and died from difficulty breathing,” he told reporters, citing children who had survived the disaster.
Myint Swe said that bars on the windows had prevented the 13 children from escaping the mosque and religious school, which houses around 75 youngsters. Most of the children were freed when police kicked open a door to the building.
Firefighters were able to control the blaze, saving the mosque’s structure.
Myint Swe said authorities had launched a probe into the disaster after he visited the site Tuesday along with Myint Thein, the Minister of Social Welfare of the Rangoon regional government office and Minister of Security and Border Affairs.
“We have generally concluded that it is impossible for the fire to have been caused by someone, but we are investigating very carefully to determine the correct cause,” he said.
Inhabitants of central Burma have been on edge since clashes between Buddhists and Muslims erupted in the city of Meikhtila on March 20. At least 43 people have died and thousands left homeless since.
Bothahtaung police chief Win Naing told reporters that the deaths were likely due to negligence on the part of mosque staff workers.
“These kids shouldn’t have died, but those in charge of the mosque delayed their action and the children were breathing in a lot of smoke. According to the forensic doctor, the kids died from smoke inhalation. We are investigating the case,” he said.
“The two men in charge of the mosque—Khin Maung Aye and Ko Zayar Phyo—are responsible for this and we have to take action against them.”
A statement from the Rangoon division government vowed to “take action against the people responsible for the incident” and said authorities would explain their findings to religious leaders from the country’s Islamic organizations.
Suspicions abound
Area Muslims told Agence France-Presse that they were skeptical of the initial findings by authorities.
“The whole country is worried now for [Rangoon], and is wondering whether this was a crime," Ye Naung Thein, of Muslim organization Myanmar Mawlwy federation, told AFP at the scene, urging people to wait for the result of the inquiry.
Later, at a Muslim cemetery in northern Rangoon where hundreds of mourners gathered to bury the victims, a teacher who was awoken as flames ripped through the mosque told AFP he had smelt gasoline during the fire—similar to the testimony of several other witnesses.
“I think someone started the fire intentionally,” said Khin Maung Hla, adding the victims were aged between 12 and 15.
Last week, at least five unidentified people were shot by police and military as they attacked Muslim-owned businesses and homes north of Rangoon in Bago region, where security forces have been scrambling to maintain order after new sectarian violence erupted on March 20.
Religious attacks have affected Muslim neighborhoods in at least 11 townships in Mandalay and Bago divisions since then, prompting the government to declare an emergency and to impose curfews in some areas.
Violence between Burma’s Buddhist majority and the country’s Muslim minority, which accounts for some 4 percent of the nation’s 60 million people, is threatening to derail reformist President Thein Sein’s plans for national reconciliation and democracy following nearly five decades of military rule.
Two separate outbreaks of violence between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Rakhines in western Burma’s Rakhine state left at least 180 dead and tens of thousands homeless last year.
Reported by Zin Mar Win for RFA’s Burmese Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.