One of the female hostels at Plateau State Polytechnic (PLAPOLY), Jos campus was completely razed by fire on Monday.
The fire, which started around 8.30 a.m., raged on till 11.44, throwing the entire school into confusion as students and staffers scurried to safety with some bold students making frantic but fruitless efforts to quench the inferno.
It was reported that there was no loss of life in the fire incident as the fire service personnel arrived the scene around 11.20 when the hostel had been brought down.
“Many students had left for lectures when the fire started; no one was around to remove anything from the burning hostel,” Yusuf Ade, a security man said.
Mr Dauda Gyemang, the Rector of the institution, who described the incident as “shocking”, attributed it to a gas explosion which occurred “at about 8.30 a.m.”
“We thank God that no life was lost in the inferno, but nothing was rescued,” he said.
Gyemang said that the incident was “a great loss” to the institution.
“We shall move the students to another place because the building is completely burnt down. It is very devastating,” he said.
The Rector wondered why the students were keeping cooking gas in the hostel, saying that it was against the school’s regulations. (NAN)
