Fire razes part of Transcorp Hotel in Calabar

The power generating section of Transcorp Metropolitan Hotel in Calabar, Cross River State was on Friday razed down by fire.

The incident, which occurred around 4pm was said to have been caused by a pumping machine which ignited while one of the staff of the hotel staff was trying to refuel a 500kv generator from the storage tank.

Although no life was lost in the inferno, it took the combined efforts of fire men from the Cross River State Fire Service Unit and that of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria to put off the fire three hours later.

A Senior Staff of the hotel, who craved anonymity, said the property lost was valued at N300million.

He, however, expressed joy that none of the staff died or sustained injury while trying extinguish fire.

Eni Eneze, a safety officer from North West Petroleum Limited, Calabar, however blamed the management of the hotel for not training their staff on safety measures.

A senior manager from the Airport Rescue and fire service unit, Mr. Eno Ikpi Otu said that his team would have salvaged the situation earlier but for traffic jam.

Also, the State Security Adviser, Mr. Rekpene Bassey, described the incident as unfortunate.

He said, 'A thing like this should not have happened.'