Panic & Pandemonium: How Guests Escaped Death When Fire Gutted Popular Hotel in Owerri, Imo State

The hotel on fire

 

Fire reportedly wreaked havoc on a popular hotel known as Stone Castle in the Okigwe area of Owerri, the Imo State capital, on Tuesday as there was panic and pandemonium among the guests and staff of the hotel.According to a report by PUNCH, the fire incident which occurred around 8:00am, made guests to abandon their belongings as they fled for dear life.

 

An eyewitness said; “Guests had to abandon their rooms and run outside for their safety. Nobody expected it. There was no sign that danger was lurking and it happened in the blink of an eye.” 

 

It was gathered that it took the prompt response of men of the Imo State Fire Service to stop the inferno from spreading to surrounding buildings.

 

Police officers from the Orji Police Division, led by the Divisional Police Officer, Ude Umanta, firefighters and the management of the hotel, were on the ground at the scene of the incident.

 

The Officer-in-Charge of the Fire Prevention Department of the Imo State Fire Service, Francis Ekeocha, said valuables estimated at millions of naira were lost to the inferno.

 

Ekeocha, who said the actual cause of the fire had yet to be ascertained, said the incident  started from the power house.

“We responded to the distress call and put out the fire. The actual cause of the fire had yet to be ascertained, but it started from the power house. Two generators were destroyed, including electric wires, doors and windows,” he said.

 

While speaking to a correspondent, the proprietor of the hotel, Dennis Okoroafor, said that the hotel would be shut down.

“I don’t know the actual cause of the fire because I was awoken from sleep. We have lost millions of naira to the fire. Apart from the property we lost, no human casualty was recorded. No guest was affected. We are shutting down to enable us to bounce back better,” Okoroafor said.