From Judex Okoro, Calabar
Tragedy struck the University of Calabar community as fire gutted mathematics department.
The ugly incident, which occurred about 11:00pm and continued to the wee hours of Sunday, and destroyed principal offices including the office of the head of department, the record Room adjoining the (HOD’s office) and the office of the exams officer worth millions of naira.
Eye witness said the raging fire would have spread with ease to other offices and departments in the faculty of physical sciences but not for the intervention of fire-fighters from the Federal Fire Service and the Airport Police Station who responded to a distress call by the Chief Security officer of the institution.
The cause of the fire incident is yet to be ascertained as at the time of filling this report, but security sources said the fire outbreak may have been caused by a spark from the an electrical appliances that may have not been switched off at the weekend
The source revealed that “some staff sometimes forget to off their appliances at the close of work and when there is a power surge it normally causes sparks and can subsequently lead to this kind of fire incident.”
The Head of Department of Mathematics, Dr Jonathan Ezeora, and the exams officer, as well as, the Institution’s Director of Works, Engr Alaga Joseph, have expressed shock at the level of damage caused by the inferno.