Deaths prompt college to send students home

NST: The deaths of two 14-year-old girls from the Kuala Krai Mara Junior Science College has resulted in the educational institution ordering its 500 students to return home.
Medical authorities are unable to confirm what caused the deaths although dengue or typhoid have been named as possible causes.
A spokesman for the college confirmed that the 500 students from Kelantan were told to return home on Thursday, while another 100 from Terengganu and Pahang remained at the college until the school holidays which begin next Friday.
Siti Nazirah Said died on Feb 4 after she was admitted to Raja Perempuan Zainab 2 Hospital for fever while Amni Izati Ghani, who was admitted to the hospital on March 2, also died of fever.
The girls from Marang and Kemaman, respectively, were staying in the same dormitory.
The spokesman said four students who were hospitalised, two here and one each in Pasir Mas and Kuala Krai, had been discharged.
Kelantan director of Health Services Datuk Dr Ahmad Razin Ahmad Maher declined to say whether the students had died of typhoid or dengue.
"I will clarify the situation at a Press conference tomorrow. My department did not order the college to be closed," he told Bernama.
Guchil State Assemblyman Dr Shamsul Ikhwan Ashaari Azmi, who visited the college, said he was informed by the State Health Department that doctors were still investigating the cause of death of the girls.
"I visited the college today and found that there were no mosquito-breeding grounds," he said.
Mara education department deputy director-general Datuk Nam Marthinin assured parents precautionary measures were being taken, including a mass clean-up exercise carried out by the staff and students.
In Kuala Terengganu, Ghani Sulong, father of Amni Izzati, said he hoped the authorities would inform him of the cause of his daughter’s death.
"It is impossible for the hospital not to know the cause," he said.
"If it is a dangerous disease, they must let the people know.
"I can’t understand how there can be two sudden deaths in the college.
"They should also take immediate action. If the college has to be closed, they must do that."
Siti Nazirah’s mother, Hatijah Muda, 52, said the hospital had cited dengue haemorrhagic fever or a lung infection as the likely cause of her daughter’s death.