Africa-Press – Uganda. Property worth millions of shillings was devastated after a November 14 fire gutted a top eatery in Kalangala District’s Bugala Island.
The inferno at Desire Restaurant and Take Away reportedly started at 5am after a power surge, according to workers at the eatery.
“We are experiencing load shedding here since June and power is usually switched off at midnight and returns at 5; 00am. So, power returned this morning and it was followed by an explosion. Few minutes later, I saw fire near the television and I swiftly moved out to seek help,” worker Faridah Nakato told on Tuesday.
The restaurant, located in the heart of Kalangala Town prepares local foods and tourists visiting the islands usually flock for breakfast, lunch and supper. Items destroyed in the fire include four fridges, kitchen utensils, two television sets, furniture and stocked beer and sodas.
According to Taddeo Dongo, another worker at the restaurant, some people hired to do electrical repairs on Monday did not complete their work after power went off towards midnight.
“They [electricians] were still repairing the old TV set and when the electricity went off, the electricians went to rest, when electricity came back in the morning, and there were some sparks near the TV set. That’s where the fire started before spreading to the entire eating place,” he said.
Police officers at Kalangala Central Police Station, located directly opposite the gutted restaurant, used buckets of water and sand to prevent fire from spreading to nearby wooden kiosks, but failed to contain it.
Samuel Kwesiga, a member of Ssese Islands Tourism Association, said the destruction of Desire Restaurant is a big blow to the hospitality business in the area.
“That restaurant has been serving almost 90 per cent of tourists that visit Buggala Island especially during weekends where we receive them in big numbers. About 20 tourists were preparing to go to the same place for breakfast only to receive sad news that it got burnt,” he said.
David Omongot, the focal person of the Kalangala District Disaster Management Committee said: “This serves as an eye opener. I have been talking about this thing of fire extinguishers, but many business people were not taking my advice seriously.”
After this inferno, Kalangala now remains with only four restaurants which meet standards for tourists but the surviving eateries only provide lunch.
Despite being a key tourist destination, Kalangala remains one of the districts which suffer frequent fire incidents since many islanders store petroleum fuels for their boat engines inside their wooden houses.
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