June 4 (THEWILL) — Palpable fear and anxiety have continued to spread among students and parents of Bayelsa Medical University (BMU), Yenagoa, following another fire outbreak at the female hostel on Monday night, destroying students’ valuables and raising fresh concerns over what students described as repeated electrical faults in the building.
Although there was no life lost, students said the fire, which started from an electrical spark, could have turned tragic if those inside the hostel had not escaped in time.
Several students who spoke with THEWILL recounted how they ran for safety as thick smoke and flames spread through one of the rooms in the hostel.
A 400-level Nursing student said the incident happened shortly after she went to bed, adding that many students initially thought the spark was one of the regular electrical faults they had become used to in the hostel.
“I slept around after 9 pm. It wasn’t up to 20 minutes after I slept that I started hearing shouts. Immediately, I woke up. After the last fire incident, there have been a series of sparks. People will shout, but it will just look as if we are overreacting.
“So I felt it was the same situation as today. But then my roommate kept shouting fire, and that was how I ran out of the room in shock. I was expecting it to be something minor as usual, but then I saw fire, the room was burning like seriously”, she stated.
According to her, efforts to stop the fire became difficult because the hostel’s fire extinguisher was empty, while the water supply from the tap was poor.
“I ran downstairs, and I saw the girl with a fire extinguisher. As she was trying to use the fire extinguisher, there was nothing coming out; it was empty. She tried to get water from the tap, but the tap was dripping, and water was not rushing”, she added.
She further alleged that the hostel gate was locked during the incident, making escape and rescue difficult for students.
“The gate to our hostel was locked, and we have been begging the school authority to open this gate, even during the daytime; they don’t usually open it for us. They said security reasons”, she noted.
Another 400-level Nursing student added that the fire quickly destroyed the affected room before help arrived and accused the school management of trying to shift blame to students instead of addressing the faulty electrical system.
“By the time we came out, the room had burnt to ashes. We called our Porter, but she could not do anything. The fire extinguisher was not working before the boys had to break the gate at the back of our hostel, came in and put out a little of the fire.
“Before the fire service came, they had even put out the fire, but all the belongings were damaged, their documents, everything was gone. Now the school authority is trying to say they are the ones that caused the fire, meanwhile, it is their bad connection that caused this fire”, she alleged.
A 300-level Optometry student also narrated her experience of the incident.
“I went out to buy my toiletries and provisions, only for me to come back to the hostel, and I’m seeing security running. I was trying to go upstairs, and I was seeing people coming down with buckets.
“By the time I turned to my right, I was seeing a room covered with fire, thick fire. I couldn’t even move; everywhere was burning, the bunk was burning”, she narrated.
Another student from the Department of Medical Laboratory Science said many students no longer react seriously to fire alarms because such incidents happen regularly in the school.
“Fire is something that is not new to any BMU student. Last week, fire; this week, fire; every day we must experience fire. We thought it was a minor thing, but the fire became so intense.”
She disclosed that she hurried upstairs to rescue her important documents while battling panic and suffocation from the smoke.
“I had to rush upstairs and pick my documents, my WAEC, my laptop and every important thing you can think of. I didn’t carry my clothes because clothes are vanity.
“As I opened my door, the smoke was too much. I don’t have asthma, but I almost had an asthma attack. The smoke was so strong, I had a panic attack, I was shaking that I started crying”, she said.
Parents have also expressed fears over the safety of their children in the institution.
A parent, Mr Peremobowei Stanley Disi, whose daughter is a student of the university, described the repeated fire outbreaks as disturbing and dangerous, adding that the institution should have traced and fixed the root cause of the electrical problem long ago.
“I’m a parent, and my daughter is part of that institution. So it’s saddening that similar situations have occurred several times, and they still do wear and tear. They still do patching because they would have gone back, traced the source, if possible, change all the wiring”, he said.
Disi warned that the next incident could become deadly if urgent action was not taken and called on the management and government to carry out a complete rewiring of the hostel.
“Thank God, no lives have been lost since this thing has been occurring. But you wouldn’t know, the next damage could be more deadly because sometimes these students might be asleep and this same thing happens in the night. Who will be at their rescue?” he queried.
“I want them to trace from all the connections, if possible, do a fresh rewiring which they can afford so that that area can be tackled”, he added.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of Bayelsa Medical University, Dr (Mrs) Marie Teibowei, declined to comment immediately on the issue.
Amos Okioma is a Correspondent at THEWILL
