Fire razes down Guest House in Rivers

…destroys cash, property worth millions

Barth Ndubuwah, Port Harcourt

Property worth millions of Naira and  others were said to have been destroyed by fire at Ihunwo Guest House,  Location Road, Off Ebonyi Junction, Rumuola in Port Harcourt metropolis of Rivers State.

Fielding questions from journalists on the incident, the Supervisor of the Guest House, Mr John Chika Ihunwo said, they lost a total cash of over N3.4million, plus countless properties ranging from deep freezers, plasma television sets, furniture, among others.

The Supervisor narrated how fire erupted from the lobby and spread to other rooms.

He estimated the cost of the loss to over N4million, excluding the building that was completely burnt down.

“It was serious, just about 10.30pm on Saturday, people were watching football match, the hotel was in full swing and suddenly people started shouting fire and before you know it the fire that started behind the house spread to everywhere. Look at the place now, all the plasma television sets, fridges, deepfreezers all got burnt. The physical cash that was burnt is over N3m, plus other properties. Right now one person who developed BP due to shock, occasioned by the loss is in the hospital,” Ihunwo said.

Asked whether, Fire Service were not called promptly, he said, “they arrived before 11pm,but wasted a lot of time asking unnecessary questions on where the fire started only to commence operations almost 12pm.”

According to him, before then, the fire had taken a toll on the premises. He equally told the press that neighbours and sympathisers helped in putting out the fire, though they were infiltrated by criminals who used the opportunity to loot the hotel.

“I don’t know whether the Fire Service men were not properly trained, otherwise why should arrive the scene by 11pm,only to delay till the fire was almost out of control before they started fighting it. Well, all the same we thank God that there was no loss of life and the fire did not spread to the next building,it would have been disastrous,” Ihunwo said.

Our Correspondent who visited the scene, reported that the entire building was razed down by fire outbreak, leaving users of the facility stranded.