It was a sad Sunday afternoon as tragedy struck some students of the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi and two journalists when an afternoon fire razed their lodge in Gwallameji students village leaving with the anguish of counting their losses with tears and sobs.
According to eyewitnesses accounts, the incident started around 1:30 pm when the fire gutted one of the rooms at Tinubu Lodge before spreading to other rooms as the occupants and sympathisers tried everything possible to put the fire under control.
One of the occupants of the lodge, a journalist with the Nations Newspapers, David Adenuga, narrated with tears that: ”It was like a dream, I could not believe that everything in my room has gone, I lost all my belongings to the fire.”
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He narrated further in tears that: ”There was no power supply at that time, we still don’t know the source of the fire. The fire affected nine rooms. It took the efforts of the fire service to put out the fire that already escalated to other blocks.”
Another female victim who was seen writhing and crying said that all her education certificates and other valuables were burnt to ashes saying: ”I don’t know where to start, what to do, I don’t have anywhere to go. I’m only left with the cloth on me,” she lamented.
Also, another victim, a journalist, Saheed Ola, a reporter with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said that his gadgets and other valuables went with the fire saying: ”I thank God for my life that it didn’t happen at night. It happened like a joke, many things have gone which I can’t settle to mention right now.”
An eyewitness said that the cooking gas also contributed to the escalation of the fire, saying most of the rooms contained gas cylinders which exploded in the rooms. It took the prompt intervention of the men of the Federal Polytechnic and ATBU fire services to curtail the spread of the fire as no life was lost.
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