Millions lost as fire guts Dokolo school

Feb 17, 2018

The school also lost food since the fire started from a food store, before spreading to the students’ dormitories.

PIC: Students of Dokolo Vocational Technical School with some of the burnt items. (Credit: By Michael Onyinge and Stephine Opio)

By Michael Onyinge and Stephine Opio


CATASTROPHE


DOKOLO - Properties worth sh15m have been destroyed by fire that gutted Dokolo Vocational Technical Institute in Arwotnyap cell Dokolo town council in Dokolo district.

Over 150 students who had reported to the school have been left without anything, after their items got burnt.

The school also lost food since the fire started from a food store, before spreading to the students' dormitories.

Walter Otaka, the school's bursar said among the things that were destroyed were 12 sacks of maize, seven sacks of beans, motorcycle spare tyres and other items which were to be used for students' practical lessons.

Other items destroyed include 20 student mattresses and their boxes, five bags of cement, a solar panel and three sacks of maize flour, among others.

Otaka said they could not save anything because the store was locked and the store keeper was not at school at the time the incident happened.

Students of Dokolo Vocational Technical School with some of the burnt items. (Credit: By Michael Onyinge and Stephine Opio)


He said the exact cause of the fire was yet to be investigated by the Police although they suspect that the solar battery that was in the stores could have caused short cut, sparking the inferno.

The students, who battled the flames, expressed their disappointment with how the Police responded to their call, saying the nearest station, Dokolo Central Police Station is a few metres away from the school.

"If police had responded in time, we would not have lost much of our property", one of the students said.

The students, who were angry with Police, struggled in vain to extinguish the fire using basins, buckets and jerrycans filled with water.

The school director, David Alele Omong, valued the destroyed properties at sh15m.

Alele assured students that he would ensure that the students survive and urged parents not to worry about what students would eat.

The officer in charge of Dokolo Central Police Station, Nelson Odongo said the authorities of the schools delayed to inform them, but they were going to investigate the cause of the fire.


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