By Assan Bah
A devastating fire outbreak at ‘Iqra’ Boarding School in Kitty village in Kombo Central District of the West Coast Region, has destroyed the entire school and claimed the life of a seven-year old male student on Monday 12th December 2022.
The fire, according to Mrs Haddy Jallow who is the secretary of the School, occurred in the early hours of the above date.
Mrs Jallow who narrated the incident to this medium on Wednesday December 14th 2022said: “It was on Sunday around 2 am (early hours of Monday), that one teacher noticed smoke coming out from the dormitories, and alerted the teachers for everyone to be rescued but unfortunately there was a seven-year old male student inside and when we notice his absence from the students who were rescued, we tried to rescue him but it was late because the blaze engulfed everywhere at the time. We called the Fire and Rescue Service officers stationed in Brikama to no avail, and that was when we contacted a friend who contacted the fire service station at Serrekunda. However upon their arrival, the boy had already passed on.” She said the cause of the inferno is still unknown but confirmed that the deceased was laid to rest on Monday.
Mrs Jallow then appealed for support from both the government and philanthropists to rebuild the school, adding that they teach children for them to know their religion, have morals and discipline, and about the Quran and Sunnah of Prophet Muhammed (S.A.W).
“The school started operations in 2013 and is strictly for Quranic memorisation and the teaching of the Hadith. But as of now, we have discharged all sixty four students to their respective homes as we look for ways to rebuild the school,” she said
She urged parents to pray for the deceased and remain patient as they look for means to rebuild the school. Mrs Jallow called on parents to stop blaming the school authorities when incidents like this happened and know that such happenings is Allah’s will. She urged them to have faith in Allah.
Meanwhile, when contacted for him to shed light on the matter, Pateh Gibba, the PRO of the Fire and Rescue Services, said Brikama Fire Station could not respond to the inferno, due to technical problems with their vehicles which are all undergoing maintenance.
