Niue’s national broadcaster studios destroyed by early morning fire

An early
morning fire at the Broadcasting Corporation of Niue has destroyed the studios
inside the building.

A radio announcer
who arrived at the office for her early radio morning show found the studio
rooms and the TV Operation room engulfed and raised the alarm.

Firefighters
arrived at the scene after 6 this morning and managed to contain the fire inside.

The TV
studio and editing room have been badly damaged by the fire.

The radio studio
has also been affected. The library and archives are intact but smoke and soot had
infiltrated the room.

The Fire and
Rescue Services are still at the scene and investigations will continue. It’s suspected
that the fire was caused by faulty electrical wiring and would’ve started sometime
in the early hours of the morning.

The BCN news
team have relocated to one of the offices at the Emergency Operations Centre.
The technicians and camera crew are trying to determine what equipment if any
can be salvaged from the building.

BCN General
Manager Trevor Tiakia is still at the scene trying to assess the damages.

The fire
could not have happened at a worse time when Niue is in the middle of an
election to be held on Saturday 30^th May.

BCN had
started an extensive news coverage and were to start a televised Q and A
segments to begin tomorrow both on Radio and TV Niue.

TV Niue and Radio Sunshine have suspended services
until further notice.