Fire guts Kadjebi-Asato SHS female dormitory

PFIRE gutted the box room (where students keep their chop boxes) of one of the two female dormitories of the Kadjebi-Asato Senior High School in the Oti Region on Thursday.

The incident which occurred at about 7:30am caused fear and alarm among the students and the staff, destroyed chop boxes, rubber buckets and mattresses belonging to the students. However, no one was injured in the pandemonium.

Briefing the Ghanaian Times on phone from the campus, an assistant headmaster of the school, George Bekoe, said some students outside rushed back into the dormitory to retrieve some of their personal belongings, “although we tried to restrain them.”

He said personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service acted swiftly to put out the fire, adding that the cause of the fire was not immediately established, “but we suspect it was caused by an electrical fault.”

According to Mr Bekoe, there were episodes of power fluctuation prior to the fire outbreak.

Mr Bekoe gave the assurance that the incident did not disrupt classes at the school, which had an enrolment of 2, 039, because the damage was limited to the box room, saying that “The Konsu House is still in use and classes are going on smoothly.”

Meanwhile, personnel of the Kadjebi District Office of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) have visited the scene.

Mr Divine Bosson, Volta Regional Director of NADMO, who is also responsible for the Oti Region made it clear that “for now our stores are empty.”

He said a report on the incident had been sent to the national headquarters of the organisation in Accra in the hope of getting assistance for the students sooner than later.

ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI, HO