Fire destroys flats occupied by Bank of PNG employees

A FIRE has destroyed 18 flats occupied by Bank of Papua New Guinea staff in Ela Beach in Port Moresby on Tuesday night.
No one was injured in the blaze that broke out at 11pm but firemen were still dousing the embers yesterday morning.
Fire services supervisor Luke Muguas said the fire was only reported to his office at 12.08am, an hour after the fire started.
“The flats were already engulfed in flames when firemen arrived to put out the fire and carry out evacuation,” he said.
“Most of the occupants had already fled to safety and we used our water hoses to fight the fire.
“The fire started from the ground floor and spread too fast.

“We could not save any belongings.”
A victim who did not want to be named said the fire started at about 11pm when some of the tenants had already gone to bed.
“We ran out of the burning building without any belongings because we were all confused and panicked,” he said.
Another tenant said he was winding down his busy day and spending time with his family when the fire started.
“We just ran out of our house without a thought to saving our belongings; my driving license was destroyed, so I could not drive anywhere,” he said.
Firemen are investigating the cause of the fire.