Bare-chested men covered only by towels and skimpy dressed women hang on the window lintels on the third floor of City House as they made distress calls to be rescued at 10am on a morning yesterday.
The victims had run to the windows after they were trapped by smoke and fire that had engulfed the lower floors of a building in the central business district on Luwum Street in Kampala City, Uganda.
Police Fire Prevention and Rescue Services officers using their ladders that they placed on the building rescued one survivor after the other from the lodges.
They were part of the many survivors, who were saved in yesterday’s blaze that left one unidentified person dead and several with minor injuries.
Kampala Metropolitan Police deputy spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire said their teams were still searching the damaged shops to establish whether there are no other victims who were trapped in the fire.
“One person so far confirmed dead today (yesterday) during the city house fire…. However, concerns remain about the possibility of additional casualties within the remnants of the building. The dedicated team at Central Police Station Kampala is actively working to verify if there are other bodies still trapped inside,” Assistant Superintendent of Police Owoyesigyire said.
The fire started at eateries on the ground floor of the City Hall at 9am and spread rapidly to the upper floors where it destroyed several properties.
The building, which is owned by Mr Sudhir Ruparelia, houses offices of the Democratic Party, Forum for Democratic Change and several shops dealing in stationery, pharmaceutical and garments products. It also has eateries and lodges.
Unlike buildings around the area, it often has human traffic day and night.
At night, the corridors, veranda and stairs of the building are taken over by sex workers.
The sex workers often drag their clients upstairs.
Mr Owoyesigyire said the cause of the fire is not yet known but investigations are ongoing to establish it.
One of the survivors claimed that he lives with his children in the building and was bathing when the fire happened.
“When I was in the bathroom, I heard people screaming, then I opened the door only to see smoke. I picked up my children and fled with them outside. That is why I am dressed like this,” he said.
Upon leaving, Boda Boda riders said although he was inside the building at the time of the fire, he was lying that he has a home in the building. One rider said he is a known regular visitor of the ladies in the building.
The fear of fire spreading farther prompted several shop owners on the building and adjacent ones to remove their stock and place it on the street.
Police closed the roads to prevent theft of property and traffic congestion, but they later reopened it at 1pm after fire fighters contained the blaze. Some of the businesses on the building reopened yesterday.
Forum for Democratic Change spokesperson John Kikonyogo said their offices were not affected and they were continuing with work.
“We were not affected at all. Our office was not part of the building which got burnt. We have no plans to vacate the place except if the landlord says ‘don’t come back here’,” Mr Kikonyogo said.
The managers of the building said the building is insured and it will be renovated soon.
