No fewer than 80 students have been displaced from their boarding
house accommodation at the Don Bosco Secondary School and Youth Centre,
Obolo Obosi, near Onitsha following a fire incident.
The Rector of the school, Charlse Uzoeto, who conducted journalists
around the charred remains of the hostel on Sunday, said the fire broke
out while the students and teachers were in school.
Fire incidence at Don Bosco Secondary School and Youths Centre in Onitsha
Mr. Uzoeto said the students had been sent back to their parents
following an agreement between the management of the school and parents
as there was no place for them to stay.
The Rector said the property of the students could have been saved,
but the fire service was unable to reach the school in good time due to
the bad access road.
“It was a serious fire incident. Nobody can say exactly what happened or how it happened, but everyone was in school.
“We can only speculate about the real cause, but we thank God that no life was lost.
“About 80 students are housed in the two wings of the hostel; we
cannot quantify the extent of damage as virtually everything the
students had in the hostel was lost,” he said.
According to him, the bedding, the entire roof of the building and
even the structure of the building were destroyed by the fire.
“The fire services would have reached here much earlier, but on their
way, they discovered that they could not access the place because of
bad road leading to this place.
“After meandering through the markets with all the difficulties, before they came here, we were already counting our losses.
“I think if the roads were good, they would have reached here much earlier.
“They made efforts as human beings but they could not jump, they
could not fly, and that reduced the chances of rescue,” he said.
Mr. Uzoeto called on government, corporate organisations and kind
individuals to come to the aid of the school to enable it to commence
its normal academic activities.
“The assistance we need is obvious, it is a private mission school
built with the best intention, but the resources are not there like
before.
“We need help from government, organisations and individuals to recover from this colossal loss,” he said.
Don Bosco Secondary School, Obosi is an educational institute,
managed by the Salesian Priests of the Catholic Church, and is one of
the three in Nigeria. (NAN)
No comments:
Write comments