Fire destroys multi-million naira Onitsha hotel
A high-class hotel Sopurum Hotel and Suits, located at the 3-3 Housing Estate junction Onitsha, Anambra State, was early hours of Monday destroyed by fire and goods worth millions of naira lost.
The hotel known to be the choice of the highly placed security Chiefs on visit to Onitsha and individuals, was said to have caught fire at about 3.30 am Monday morning.
According to eyewitnesses, the fire was said to have started from an electrical section and spread around the hotel destroying many things.
The cause of the fire from the electrical section of the hotel has yet to be ascertained, but it was gathered that the incident started at about 3:30am on Monday with some lodgers still asleep.
The fire would have destroyed the entire hotel according to an eye witness, but for the timely arrival of men of the fire service from Asaba Delta and Anambra States who fought and quenched it before it engulfed the whole building and possibly the Filling station located in front of it.
The Anambra State Fire, Chief, Martins Agbili, could not be immediately reached for comments as calls and text messages to his telephone line were not responded to as at the time of filing this report.
However, the Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer PPRO, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident, saying that the situation is under control.
“The situation is under control. The fire started around 4:30am on Monday and when we got the information, our men were quickly mobilised to the scene and they condoned off the area to avoid any case of vandalism.
“There was no loss of life and the men of the fire service are on the ground controlling the situation and managing the fire.”
The incident according to an eye witness send jitters to residents of 3-3 Housing Estate, as the fire if not quenched and the entire building was raised, the near by houses in the estate would have been raised down.
Vanguard gathered that soldiers of the Nigerian Army who have maintained a check point directly opposite the hotel for over ten years also help in ensuring that nothing was vandalized or taken away by criminals who would have cashed in on the stampede generated by the incident to loot.
The soldiers according to an eye witness are aware of the friendly disposition of the owner of the hotel and their senior bosses who visits the state and Onitsha in particular and therefore didn’t take chances in securing the entire area while the fire fighters did their job.
