Fire gutted part of South Sudan Hotel in Buluk neighborhood of Juba on Monday. A number of first floor apartments on the western part of the hotel were burnt out, but there were no reported casualties.

The managing director of South Sudan Hotel Mel Garang Yuot regretted the unexpected burning of the hotel. “We are very unfortunate and very sorry for what happened,” he said.

Yuot stated that he could not tell exactly the cause but he suspected an electrical fault.

Another witness, hotel worker Mary Abraham Dhieu, explained that she heard the sound of small explosions as the fire started: “The place where the fire started from is called upper lodge. That time I was in the kitchen working and I heard a sound firing like a gun.”

“I came out and saw the place dark. I did not do anything and my things got burnt in the room, there is no time and it was all dark inside and I almost got burnt,” said Mary.

According to the director of fire brigade services in Central Equatorial, Col. John Tomi Lyan Daniel, the fire service did their best to rescue the burning hotel but did not have enough vehicles.

“The case came to us as a surprise at around 11:15 a.m. and we said the vehicle had to move and find out what was happening. And when we arrived we found that the fire had burned a lot,” he stated. The officer also noted that there are only two fire brigade vehicles, of which only one is in good condition.

Witnesses at the scene reported that during the middle of the event the fire brigade vehicle used up all its water and had to leave to fetch more water while the blaze continued and people stood by helpless.

At that point the United Nations Fire Brigade vehicle came in and successfully put out the blaze.

Last year Sahara Hotel along Juba’s Airport Road was burnt, and the previous year the SPLM Secretariat, Beijing Hotel and part of the Office of the President also went up in flames.