Fire guts Beijing Juba Hotel again

Billowing smoke at the scene of the fire.
[Photo: Matata Safi]

People try to rescue property.
[Photo: Matata Safi]

JUBA, 22 December 2011 – For the second time today at about 12noon fire gutted Beijing Juba Hotel destroying property worth millions of pounds. The block that survived last year’s fire is what has been reduced to ashes today. The block that is mostly built of prefabs accommodates many of the hotel’s clients who are both nationals and foreign clients.

Many of the hotel clients that spoke to goss.org, maintained that today’s fire has destroyed almost all their property. One of the clients who only identified himself as Makur said all his belongings have been burnt. “I was at work when I received a call that the hotel was on fire. This is my home, all my belongings were in there”, he narrated sorrowfully.

Mr. Makur maintained that the hotel was filled up and that it was a very big loss to the people who were living in the Hotel.

Another client, a Chinese national, said he was only lucky that by the time the fire begun he was around to pick his belongings before the fire intensified.

Most of the eyewitnesses could not establish the cause of the fire but pointed out that the possible cause could have been an electrical fault. Most of the original hotels in Juba are built with prefabs making it difficult to save belongings of people who frequent these hotels in times of such fire outbreaks.

Getting comment from the hotel management was futile as most of them were engaged in rescuing the situation.

 By the time the fire brigade arrived much of the block was reduced to the ground level but it managed to stop the fire from causing more damage to the remaining blocks. The hotel management had started putting permanent structures after the first fire incident most likely to avert such damages but have been challenged again by today’s fire outbreak.

http://www.goss-online.org/magnoliaPublic/en/news.html#Fire guts Beijing Juba Hotel again