Another room in Murtala Hall, ‘A2’ of the University of Maiduguri has been burnt down by alleged kerosene explosion barely 24 hours after a female student of the same hostel was critically burnt by a similar kerosene explosion in ‘A4’.
This fire incident is the third in two weeks within the school.
According to Kariyi Bitrus, a third year student in the faculty of management sciences, the fire started around 5:15pm Sunday evening.
“As I speak with you (about twelve past five o’clock) the hostel is still burning. Although we are not yet aware if there is any student inside the room but all the property of the students in the room is ablaze,” Bitrus said.
Another source, Loveth Ahamba, a second year French student, said, “We don’t just understand what is happening. This kerosene thing has been causing challenges to us two weeks before our exams commenced.
“There were cases of cooking stoves blowing up in flames while students were cooking in the hostel. My friend had an experience barely a week ago. She was saved by the timely intervention of a roommate who put off the fire before it got out of hand.”
In a statement on an alleged combustion that left three female students injured, the institution’s public relations officer, Prof. Danjuma Gambo, expressed shock at the fire outbreak. He charged students to remain calm as the school management was investigating the remote causes of the persistent fire outbreak.
The Punch