Samoa: Hotel Kitano Tusitala Burning

published:

 

16th September 2009

09/09/21

Hotel Kitano Tusitala Burning

Outside my window, the iconic Hotel Kitano Tusitala is burning – I thought the whole hysteria about a graffiti piece of the ‘Mary’ or ‘St Theresa’ which was found on the J. Williams Building 2 nights ago was going to be the highlight of the week – the whole Catholic community in Samoa has been worshipping this smudge on a building as a sign from God and as Fr Silva quoted in the paper today ‘it’s a wake up call for us Christians to meditate on’ – each to their own – the miracle of a piece of artwork being worshipped is questionable on its own.
But anyway, the Kitano is now burning.
It took about 20 minutes of flames before I heard the Apia Fire Brigade make an attempt to a rescue – at this stage, there is no known cause, except for the fact that outside my window in the Government Building of Samoa – a Samoan Icon – is burning. Mr Y.P Reddy – I wish you luck and hope that its not Laumei Faiaga finally burning you for revenge.


      
16th of September 2009 - The end of Tustala Kitano?
source: http://1samoana.com/alamailounge/2009/09/20/hotel-kitano-tusitala-burning/  (17th Sept. 2009)

 

Fire razes the Tusitala Tanoa Hotel in Samoa
By Tina Mata’afa tina@samoanews.com


    
The landmark Tusitala Tanoa Hotel in Sogi, Mulinu’u, Samoa, was completely destroyed by fire

 Fire razed the Tusitala Tanoa Hotel in Apia yesterday morning, totally destroying the landmark in Sogi, Mulinu’u, Samoa. Word of the blaze sent nostalgic thoughts through the minds of those who have experienced the hotel, formerly the Tusitala, then the Hotel Kitano Tusitala and most recently the Tusitala Tanoa Hotel. 
News of the fire was initially reported by Radio New Zealand International yesterday morning, the report reached American Samoa late yesterday morning as firemen and police worked to extinguish the burning hotel.
Residents in Samoa snapped photos and posted blogs on the internet as the hotel was burning, with Samoa News receiving a host of photos from several photographers.
Some e-mailed photographs came through third parties who received snapshots of the hotel up in flames— in Sydney, Australia, Samoa and Portland, Ore., USA.
Others e-mailed Samoa News to express their sadness with the fire. The hotel had been closed for renovations. 
According to RNZI, millions of dollars had already been spent on renovations to the hotel. There was no immediate comment from the police and the fire service on the cause of the blaze because rescue operations were the priority to protect some other wings of the hotel, said RNZI. The hotel was recently sold by the Samoa government to YP Reddy company in Fiji, which owns a number of Tanoa hotels. 
The Samoa Obsever reported late yesterday the hotel was totally destroyed.   (17th Sept. 2009)
source: http://www.samoanews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=9303
More reports about this topic:
http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2009/September/09-17-03.htm
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=129660
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=49163
     

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