The mortuary of Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, Osun State, was gutted by fire yesterday and 12 out of 102 corpses kept in the facility were burnt, Daily Trust gathered.
The Public Relations Officer of the university, Mr Abiodun Olarewaju, told Daily Trust that the institution has made necessary arrangements to inform those who kept corpses in the morgue about the incident.
The fire outbreak at the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology was quenched through the combined efforts of the Security and Fire Service Units of the university.
Olarewaju said “the fire broke out around 3:00am today, (Tuesday, November 19, 2019). It was caused by electricity surge which affected a section of the morgue where corpses are kept.
“Out of about 102 bodies that were kept in the morgue, 12 were affected by the fire outbreak.”
Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede, and other principal officers of the institution have visited the scene to assess the level of damage.
The Vice-Chancellor constituted a three-member committee to look into the immediate and remote causes of the fire outbreak.
The spokesman of the university said everything is under control and that there is no cause for panic.