Guest heroically alerts sleeping occupants during Nadi hotel fire

If Zaid Ali hadn't woken up at around 1am yesterday, it could have been a different situation for him and other guests of the Capricorn International Hotel in Nadi.   

Mr Ali was one of the guests at the hotel when the fire broke out. The Australian resident had checked in at the hotel on Tuesday afternoon, around 5pm. 

He said after they checked in, he went out with his partner, and they were back in the room around 9pm.  

“We went to sleep around 11pm. I started smelling smoke at around 1pm, and my partner said that something was not right, so we assumed that something was wrong.

"I told her not to worry because if there was a fire, there would be a fire alarm, which I think was a failure, that there was no fire alarm or detector. I opened the window and I saw a big fire," Mr Ali said.  

Mr Ali said with a heavy black smoke filling up the room, he had no second thought but to alert other guests who were still sleeping and rushed down floor.  

“I quickly took her out of the corridor and I helped other people out, knocking on their doors and smashing on their windows to get them out. I helped a couple of people get them out of the top floor.  

He said he went and helped a few iTaukei boys who were trying to put the fire out.  

“But unfortunately, the fire hose, which was installed here, was not active because it was like watering the garden; there was no water in the fire hydrant. That is another failure, and it could have gone much better," Mr Ali claimed.

Mr Ali claimed that due to the effects of the smoke, his partner was suffocating, and he had to rush her to Nadi Hospital.

“I came out and my partner was still suffocating, unable to breathe properly. I had to take her to Nadi Hospital last night. Thanks to the doctor there, they looked after us very well. She’s okay now,” he said.

He said the worst case was that they had lost a lot of their belongings in the fire. 

“Clothes, money and everything. We have so much gifts for the family that we bought them from overseas,” he said.   

“But thank God we survived. We’re still alive, and we can always replace what we lost. I urge the authorities to look into this because this is where most of our visitors stay. Our lives here are their responsibility. There was no fire alarm, no central alert system, so the administration couldn’t warn people that there was an emergency. I’m very disappointed, because if I hadn’t woken up, it could have been a very different story,” he said.

Hotel manager, Rajanta Bhan, couldn't be reached for comment today.

A front office supervisor confirmed that no staff would lose their jobs following the destruction of 27 hotel rooms and the laundry facilities.

Ice Bar owner, Roneel Sami, whose nightclub is located across from the hotel, praised his staff who helped to extinguish the fire.   

“It was around 9pm that the fire started, and when my boys saw it, they quickly helped out with buckets of water, trying to put out the fire.” 

NFA chief executive officer, Puamau Sowane, said they received the report around 12.59am and they arrived at the scene at 1.09am. Mr Sowane said his officers managed to put out the fire as usual. He said the fire started from the laundry room and the building was insured.  

Mr Sowane said there were 45 guests, one female receptionist and one security guard who were safely evacuated from the building.