Fire guts Kalikuti Hotel in Malawi’s capital city
A month or weeks will hardly pass without hearing of a fire accident in Lilongwe or elsewhere! Black smoke billowed above the capital late Friday night as fire tore through the Kalikuti Hotel, causing major damage but no injuries or deaths, Nyasa Times has the details.
The fire started at around 11pm on Friday , October 31 and by midnight, everything on the hotel’s northern wing, which comprise the reception, conference halls, restaurant, bar and other facilities had been destroyed.
More than two-dozen residents escaped with their lives — but none of their possessions — after the hotel was destroyed by fire.
Guests had to scramble from their beds and leave the smoke-filled hotel . The building was safely evacuated
At the time of filing the story, a team of fire extinguishers from Lilongwe City Council was still trying to limit the damage but the team’s efforts were proving too little too late as the fire was just too strong to be contained.
The fire brigade is now making sure the fire does not spread to the southern wing, where rooms are situated. This is the only area that has so far not been affected by the fire and guests were transferred to Crossroads Hotel.
The hotel staff and owners are also trying to pull out some stuff from the unaffected area and police officers are all over to ensure safety of the remaining property.
The cause of the fire is not known as of yet but reports suggest the fire started from the kitchen.
No death or injury has been reported but it is clear goods worth millions of Kwachas have been destroyed.
This is a second fire incident in Lilongwe city in less than 10 days following the fire that gutted one of the units for wooden furniture at Mchesi, destroying property worth over K38 million.
The Mchesi fire is believed to have been caused by Hindu members, who were cracking fireworks during Diwali celebrations.
President Peter Peter Mutharika instituted a ministerial committee to look into the occurrences of fire incidents and come up with lasting solutions to the problem.
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