A fire outbreak in the early hours of Friday has claimed the life of a student-teacher and destroyed classrooms and property at Madarisatu Rabi’a Al-Islamiyya Gusau in Zamfara state.
The incident occurred at about 2:00 a.m., affecting a block of six classrooms within the school premises.
The Secretary of the school, Malam Bilyaminu Salisu Bakwai, said only three students were inside the affected block when the fire started. He explained that two of them escaped, while one was trapped and burnt beyond recognition. Other students were sleeping in different parts of the premises due to the Ramadan period.
According to Bakwai, the deceased, Sulaiman Usman, was a student-teacher from Yar Katsina village in Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara State. He described him as one of the school’s outstanding students.
The school’s Director, Malam Abdulkadir Abdulkadir, said the institution has 313 boarding students, but only three were in the affected block at the time of the incident.
The Zamfara State Fire Service confirmed the incident. The Commandant, Tukur Balarabe, said firefighters responded after receiving a distress call and were able to control the fire, preventing it from spreading to other buildings. However, it burnt the block of Six classrooms with all the walls segregated.
He added that officers had to break the door to evacuate the victim’s remains and that the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
The deceased is expected to be buried after funeral prayers scheduled to hold immediately after Jumu’at prayers at the Rabi’a Juma’at Mosque in Gusau.
