No fewer than seven students are being treated for injuries after an early morning fire razed a female hostel at the Yaba College of Technology, Yabatech, on Wednesday.
Students of the institution took to social media expressing shock and fear that some of their colleagues may have died in the fire.
Pictures of the fire posted on social media show a section of the hostel known as Bakassi in flames, as a helpless crowd of students surround a fire truck outside the hostel.
A short video posted on Instagram shows a student that appears to be unconscious, being carried through the crowd.
Some of the students tweeting about the fire complained that the fire truck arrived without water to quench the fire.
The spokesperson of the College, Charles Oni, told PREMIUM TIMES over the phone that no student died in the fire.
He however added that five students were being treated for bruises, burnt and shock at the college’s health centre while two had been rushed to a nearby military hospital for further treatment.
“Nobody died in the fire, although some students suffered some bruises and they are being taken care of at the college medical centre; I’m just from the medical centre now and about five of them are being attended to,” he said.
“Two have been rushed to the neighboring military hospital just behind us here.”
He said the situation was not as dire as students were narrating on social media.
“You know when there is panicking — and don’t forget that some of them are women; if you have woken up to an emergency before, you know how confusing it may be. Most of them were in shock but they are being attended to,” he said.
He said the cause of the fire was not known but that the college was going to investigate the incident to ascertain what happened.
He also said it was not true that the fire truck which came to quench the fire did not have water.
He said they waited for a while for a crane to be brought for access to the top floor of the building.
He said several rooms were affected but he could not give an exact number.
Dismissing suggestion by some student about the state of the hostel, Mr. Oni said the hostel was recently renovated before students were readmitted into it.
The director of Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe, told PREMIUM TIMES firefighters were still at work.
“We are still on it. It involved a two-storey female hostel of double wings. Fire affected only the last floor. We saved the rest of the floors and other wing,” he said.
By Nicholas Ibekwe I Premium Times
