BY TEMITOPE OLUWATOSIN, AUCHI POLY

It was a sad Saturday for residents and student occupants of an off-campus hostel located at Sabo along Iyakpi Road, Edo State, who watched helplessly as their properties were gutted by fire.

Reports gathered by QUADLIFE revealed that properties worth millions of naira were lost in the fire, even as frantic efforts to put out the blaze by sympathizers proved futile as the whole building was completely razed down.

An eyewitness, Sunday Edhosa blamed the fire on an electric fault. According to him, the incident happened exactly when the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) restored power to the area, after which wires sparked from a nearby electric pole, thereby causing damage to the building.

“For the past few days, there has been no power supply in all of Auchi. We were all sitting down here when the power came on. The next thing we heard was a spark on the pole here. Before we knew it, this building was already on fire. We tried to save some of the properties from getting burnt.”

Lamenting, a resident of the burnt building who wept profusely while speaking to QUADLIFE said: “We have warned several times that they should always unplug their appliances any time they are leaving their rooms but they will never listen. I lost so much in this inferno. Where will I start from? My personal documents are now in rubbles.”

Meanwhile, sources from the building also revealed that some of the affected students were not around as many had travelled for the weekend, even as residents of the street have urged the state government to station the men and officials of the Fire Service in the area to avert future occurrence.

Some of the items confirmed to have been consumed by the fire included reading plastic tables and chairs, computer sets, electronics, money, furniture, students’ files amongst which were school receipts, original certificates and other valuables.