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Fire razes Bayelsa State Broadcasting Corporation

By Julius Osahon, Yenagoa
03 July 2019   |   3:16 am
There was pandemonium at the Bayelsa State Broadcasting Corporation’s Glory FM premises, as a mysterious fire reportedly caused by a spark from the station’s control room engulfed the facility.


There was pandemonium at the Bayelsa State Broadcasting Corporation’s Glory FM premises, as a mysterious fire reportedly caused by a spark from the station’s control room engulfed the facility.

Sections of the station razed by the inferno are the accounts office, live studio, recording studio, control room, confidential documents, electronics and furniture, among others.

A broadcaster, who was on air at the time of the incident, Victor Binawari, said: “I was doing my breakfast show ‘Rise and Shine’ when the lights went off.

“I felt it was a minor technical issue we could fix immediately, so we had to put on our touch-lights and went on with the programme because the monitor indicated that we were still on air.

“But shortly afterwards, I heard rumbling in the ceiling as if rats were up there chasing themselves. While I was wondering what was happening, one of our interns ran into the studio to alert us that the station was on fire.“It was at that point I asked my guests to be calm and follow me out of the building. Only for us to get outside the studio to see that the building was seriously on fire.”

However, several attempts by officials of state fire service to comment on the extent of damage to the property failed, as one of them told The Guardian that he was not authorised to speak on the incident.Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, who was one of the government officials to visit the scene, said the fire had been contained.

He commended the fire-fighters and sympathisers who brought the fire under control, saying: “We are grateful to God that no life was lost. As a government, we will set up a committee to review the cause of the incident and report to the governor for necessary action.

He described the incident as unfortunate and a major setback to the government and people of Bayelsa State.The commissioner, who was accompanied by some members of the state media team, said being one of the most formidable medium to disseminate information, the incident would affect the government and the people.

He, however, assured that everything would be done swiftly to ensure the station comes back on air and appealed for calm from members of staff and clients of the radio station.

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