Gabriel Dike
About 12 corpses at the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, were gutted by a midnight fire in the early hours of yesterday.
The incident, which could have wreaked havoc at the department, was averted by the combined efforts of the security and fire services unit of the institution.
The university spokesman, Abiodun Olarewaju, who made the disclosure in a statement, said the fire, which broke out at about 3 am, was allegedly caused by electricity surge which affected a section of the morgue.
He said out of the 102 bodies that were kept in the morgue, 12 were affected by the fire outbreak.
“The department has made detailed arrangements to duly and adequately inform those who have kept bodies (corpses) in the morgue,” he said.
The Vice Chancellor, Eyitope Ogunbodede, led other principal officers to the scene of the incident to assess the level of damage and instructed immediate repairs to the affected areas.
He also constituted a three-member committee to look into the immediate and remote causes of the fire outbreak.