Patna (Sahibganj), Sonu Thakur: A fire broke out in the Saint Joseph hostel of Gandhi Jayanti Middle School located in Sitapahar of Ranga police station area of Sahibganj district. The incident took place on Saturday (February 10) morning. After about an hour of effort, the students of the hostel were able to extinguish the fire, but by then more than 100 beds, bedding, books, children’s clothes and other items of the hostel were burnt to ashes. There was a loss worth lakhs due to the fire. It was fortunate that the students narrowly escaped death.
According to the information, at around 6:45 am on Saturday morning, the children of Saint Joseph Hostel (Boys) were praying in the Catholic Church premises located behind the hostel. Meanwhile, the children saw that flames and smoke were coming out from the big hall on the upper floor of the hostel, after which there was panic. All the students ran to the hostel and tried to take out their belongings, but the flames were very strong. The smoke was equally heavy, due to which more than half of the children’s belongings got caught in the fire.
The children worked together to control the fire with water. Here, the hostel manager informed the Ranga police station about the matter, after which Ranga police station ASI Vijay Kumar Dwivedi reached the spot with his team and helped in extinguishing the fire. The police informed the fire brigade team about the matter. As soon as the information was received, fire fighting vehicles reached the spot and completely controlled the fire.
Children were outside at the time of the incident, otherwise a major accident could have happened.
According to the hostel management, the incident occurred around 6:45 in the morning. The cause of the fire has not been clear. It is being speculated that the children were studying by lighting candles in the morning, after which some child might have gone out for prayers without extinguishing the candle. Could the candle have caught fire due to the strong wind? More than 200 students of classes 5, 6 and 7 lived in the hall where the fire broke out. More than 350 students live in the entire hostel. After the fire broke out, the children created a channel system and extinguished the fire by passing buckets filled with water to each other. The children were outside at the time of the incident, due to which a major accident was averted.
Children’s books, clothes, bedding and other items were burnt to ashes.
Sahibganj In this incident of fire, many items including children’s bedding, books, clothes, snacks, wiring were burnt to ashes. The manager of the hostel said that there has been a loss of lakhs due to the fire in the biggest hall of the hostel. More than 100 beds have been completely burnt to ashes. It will take time to shift the children to the hostel again. Therefore, the parents of all the children are being called and sent home for a few days. After the incident, the children immediately kept their belongings outside in the verandah and were studying.