George Onyejiuwa , Owerri
Dozens of guests scampered for safety onSaturday morning following a fire outbreak at a hotel in Owerri, the Imo state capital which wreaked havoc on the hotel.
The fire affected four heavy duty generators, car as well as a nearby building.
It was learnt that the sudden fire outbreak at the hotel, which is which located behind Concorde Hotels, Owerri, forced guests to abandoned their rooms and personal effects and scampered for safety. Some other guests who had parked their cars were seen trying to remove them from premises of the hotel.
When our reporter visited the scene, officers of the New Owerri Police Division , personnel of the Imo state Fire Service were making frantic effort to put out the fire.
“Nobody expected it. There was no sign that danger was lurking and it happened with a snap of the finger”, one of the guests said .
The chief fire officer of Imo State, Mr. Geoffrey Okoroafor who spoke to our reporter on phone said his men responded quickly to distress calls and prevented the hotel from being razed down completely.
He said he was yet to get briefs from his men to ascertain the level of damage to the hotel.
However, one of the hotel staff who spoke on the condition of anonymity, at the scene said property worth over N22 million was lost in the inferno.
The staff, who said that the actual course of the outbreak was yet to be ascertained, stated that the incident started from the power house.
“We thank God that the men of the fire service responded to our distress calls and quenched the fire. The actual cause of the outbreak is not yet known, but it started from the power house. Four generators were destroyed, including electric wires, doors and windows and the roof; the generators were not spare,” the staff said.