Academic activities suspended as fire razes YABATECH female hostel

An early morning inferno yesterday destroyed 20 rooms in a female hostel at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) in Lagos State. The fire broke out at a wing of the top floor of the Bakassi female hostel.

It was gathered that the inferno started around 5:20a.m. when the school generating set was switched on after a power outage. Three students sustained injuries as a result of the commotion that ensued .

The injured students were rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Yaba and the General Hospital, Randle Avenue, Surulere. The Head of Department of the Fire Service in the school, Dr Ismail Badmus, confirmed the incident.

He said no life was lost, but that some students were injured and taken to government hospitals for treatment.

“The incident happened at Bakassi female hostel, which is a two-wing two-storey building. It was the top floor of one of the two wings of the hostel. No life was lost, but there were some injuries.

“We lost a lot of students’ items such as laptops, phones, books and mattresses. You know it is a residential hostel, so many combustible items were there, which readily caught fire,’’ Ismail noted.

He added that the fire was combated with the combined efforts of the college’s fire service department, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Lagos State Fire Service and the State Response Unit.

Meanwhile, authorities of the college have suspended all academic activities till further notice following the fire outbreak.

Rector of the college, Dr. Margaret Ladipo, called on the college community to remain calm, promising that the management would find ways of soothing the pains caused by the accident.

“Sequel to the unfortunate fire incident at the Bakassi hostel early this morning, the management has suspended all academic activities till further notice. By this notice, all examinations and lectures, especially scheduled for today, have been put on hold while the college attends to the exigency.

“The management regrets the misguided and outright falsehood on the social media and calls to certain radio stations that there was no water on campus to put out the fire,’’ Ladipo said in a statement issued by the Head of Public Relations Unit, Mr. Charles Oni.