There was pandemonium in Owerri, the Imo State capital after a midmorning inferno wreaked havoc on a hotel at New Owerri.
The hotel, Bohncynth Luxuria Hotel, is situated just behind Concorde Hotels, Owerri.
The incident saw dozens of the hotel’s guests scampering to safety and abandoning their belongings in their rooms, while others were seen frantically moving their vehicles out of the hotel’s premises.
When our correspondent arrived at the scene of the incident, police officers from the New Owerri Police Division, firefighters, the management of the hotel and sympathizers were already on ground.
Frantic efforts were made by the firefighters to ensure the outbreak did not affect other parts of the hotel and the surrounding buildings in the area.
However, four heavy-duty generators and two flashy cars were touched by the fire as well as a nearby private building.
One of the guests who was seen clutching his travelling bag and his trousers told The Nation that he and many other guests had to abandon their rooms and ran outside for their lives.
“Nobody expected it. There was no sign that danger was lurking and it happened like a snap of the finger”, the customer said.
It took a quick response from the men of the Imo state fire service to quench the inferno which started from the power house.
The chief fire officer of Imo State, Mr. Geoffrey Okoroafor who spoke to our correspondent on telephone, said his men responded quickly to distressed calls and prevented the hotel from being razed down completely.
He said he was yet to get briefs from his men to ascertain the level of damage in the hotel.
But, one of the hotel staff who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Nation at the scene of the incident that property worth over N22 million was lost in the inferno.
The staff, who said that the actual course of the outbreak was yet to be ascertained, stated that the incident started from the power house.
“We thank God that the men of the fire service responded to our distress calls and quenched the fire outbreak. The actual course of the outbreak is not yet known, but it started from the powerhouse. Four generators were destroyed, including electric wires, doors and Windows, roof housing the generators were not spared”, the staff said.
He thanked God that no casualty was recorded and debunked the claim in town that guests were burnt in the fire outbreak and were rushed to the hospital
The Nation
