A mid-night fire outbreak on Tuesday morning has gutted the Medical Laboratory Section of the Plateau State College of Health Technology, Zawan, Jos South local government area,
It reduced the building to rubbles .
The provost of the college, Atangs Ishaku, confirmed the incident to LEADERSHIP in a phone interview.
He said, “Yes, it’s true, but we don’t know the cause yet ,We are still assessing the situation.”
Ishaku said he was alerted to the fire incident around 12 am on Tuesday morning and immediately contacted the fire service.
“I first called the Federal Fire Service, but they said their vehicle had issues,I then called another service, which responded, but by the time they arrived, the fire had already caused extensive damage,” he added.
Our correspondent, who visited the scene, reports that the incident has left students devastated, with many lamenting the loss of critical equipment and learning resources.
“This is a huge loss for us. We’ve lost valuable equipment and resources essential to our studies,” a distraught student, Mathew Gyang, said.
Another student, Sarah John, added: “It’s really sad. We don’t know how we’ll cope with the destruction of our lab facilities. The college must act quickly to address this.”
“The cause of the fire remains unknown, and authorities are yet to determine the full extent of the damage. The incident has sparked concerns over safety protocols and emergency response readiness at the institution” she added .
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Federal Fire Service in the state, Ikibe Nanya Dul, could not be reached for comments as her phone was switched off at the time of filling this report.
