Incêndio consome parte do edifício do Ministério da Administração Estatal e Função Pública
Maputo, 05 Mar (AIM) – Part of the offices of the Ministry of State Administration (MAEFP), in Maputo, was destroyed by fire on Monday.
The building had to be evacuated, but there are no reports of human deaths or injuries.
The fire, which affected the fourth floor of the building, broke out at around 07.00 and affected the Ministry’s Legal and Electoral Affairs Office.
The spokesperson for the fire brigade (SENSAP), Vanessa Chiau, told reporters that the incident was most likely caused by a short circuit, which caused extensive damage.
“An air conditioner is being blamed for the short circuit. However, we can’t say for sure at the moment”, she said, adding that “SENSAP has already deployed a team to investigate the causes of the fire.”
“It was a fire in one of the rooms. There is a lot of material damaged, and most of the material in that room was consumed by the flames”, Chiau said. The team from the fire brigade team arrived in time to extinguish the fire and prevent it from spreading.
The head offices of the Mozambique News Agency (AIM) is in the same building, on the fifth and sixth floors, but the AIM premises were not damaged by the fire.
In order to avoid similar incidents, SENSAP draws attention to the need for regular maintenance of electrical sockets to prevent short circuits from occurring and also to the need for electrical appliances to be switched off, when not in use.
“We must prevent electrical appliances from being vectors of fires in the event of power fluctuations”, she said.
(AIM)
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