Fire Guts Down UST Female Hostel: Properties Worth Thousands Of Naira Lost (Pictures)

                      inside of some of the hostels affected by the fire

 

Female Hostel ‘A’ Campus building of the University of Science and Technology (UST), Nkpolu, Port Harcourt, that accommodated over 100 female students have been gutted by fire.

The incident which happened between 6.30am and 7.00am yesterday, Tuesday 26th, was alleged to have been as a result of a gas cylinder eruption owned by one of the students, Miss Kelechi Abraham, residing at the hostel.

Lydia Amadi, one of the occupants of the room said, “the fire started from room 28 of the block, when one Miss Kelechi Abraham, a level 100 student of the Medical Laboratory department  was cooking with her gas cooker and at the same time carrying out maintenance check when suddenly the gas exploded.”

The students who were with Linda said that properties ranging from mattresses, laptops, fridges, mobile phones, cloths among other valuables worth thousands of naira were destroyed.  They said that no loss of life was recorded.

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Inspecting the scene of the incident, Special Duties Commissioner, Barrister Dickson Umunakwe, confirmed that there were no casualties and deaths recorded from the incident, blaming the cause of the fire outbreak on carelessness.

He thanked the Fire Personnel for their prompt intervention which prevented the fire from ravaging other buildings.

Umunakwe warned against the use of highly inflammable materials to avoid unnecessary fire inferno that can endanger lives and properties.

He revealed plans to enact a law that will ensure that fire safety compliance were the only appliances allowed in places such as companies, banks, buildings, hostels and others to forestall a reoccurrence.

Umunakwe however expressed sadness at the incidence which he said must have cost the students who lost their properties some huge amount of money.

He therefore urged residents of the State to take advantage of the on-going Fire Safety campaign programmes organised by the ministry on radio, television, newspapers and billboards to improve on their fire safety culture.                       

Reacting to the incident, the Public Relation Officer of the institution, Mr Desmond Nwosu, said the cause of the fire was yet to be determined by the school authority, adding that alternate arrangement will be made to accommodate the students that have been displaced by the incidence.

Nwosu denied insinuations that there were no fire extinguishers in each of the Hostels, adding that there are sanctions against the use of gas cookers in the school.

He assured that all the issues and suspicions surrounding the incident would be properly looked into.