A fire on Wednesday evening broke out in one of the rooms at Makerere International Students’ Hostel, destroying property and causing panic among residents.

The fire started at about 5:15pm in Room M3-10 when one of the occupants had just returned from lectures and the roommate was not around.

“When I entered the room, I found a bad smell as if something was burning. I took it normal and because I was tired, I lay in my bed only to see an explosion of fire after a few minutes,” said Aijuka Moreen, one of the two room occupants.

The cause of the fire is unknown, but Aijuka suspects it could be the extension cable that was plugged in a socket near her bed.

By the time police firefighters arrived, the fire had been put off by the hostel residents in collaboration with neighboring hostels.

No one succumbed to fire injuries but about five causalities of smoke inhalation were rushed to the university hospital.

“Let’s thank all the neighbor hostels because they have done a great job…but I have learnt that people need to be trained about fire outbreaks and how to use fire extinguishers,” said Kuteesa Frank, a resident and one of the eyewitnesses.   

The hostel houses over 200 students and over 90% of these are MasterCard Foundation Scholars who possess a lot of electronic gadgets including laptops, smartphones, hoofers and television sets.