Peabody company lends a hand to stranded UNH students in Mexico

PEABODY-A group of more than 100 University of New Hampshire students are all safe and accounted for after a frightening late-night hotel fire during a spring break trip to Acapulco, Mexico over the weekend.Officials from the U.S Department of State say a fire broke out in the basement of the Best Western Playa Suites in Acapulco some time during the evening of Saturday, March 15 into Sunday, March 16.Although smoke quickly filled the second tower of the two-tower resort, causing panicked college students to crawl to safety, the fire was contained and the building suffered only minimal smoke damage during the blaze.State Department officials would not say what caused the fire, noting only that it began in the laundry room of the second tower and authorities were still investigating. One UNH student did report to News 9 in New Hampshire that she saw someone put out a small fire with a towel, and then throw the flaming towel down a laundry chute.While the University of New Hampshire did not sanction the trip, UNH Police Chief Nicholas Halias worked closely with the State Department Consulate throughout the day Sunday to make sure that all of the students were present and accounted for, and anyone needing assistance with passports was directed to the proper authorities.”All students are accounted for and safe, which is a good thing,” said UNH Media Department Director Erika Mantz. “UNH officials are working to help facilitate anyone that needs a new passport.”The company that booked the spring break trip, Peabody-based Studentcity.com, said that it worked through the night of the fire to make sure that every student had a bed to sleep in while the Playa Suites were inspected after the fire.”We had to relocate everyone (Sunday), which was a scramble because it is Holy Weekend in Mexico, which along with Spring Break is their biggest holiday week, so there were not many rooms available,” said Jason Chute of Studentcity.com. “But we were able to get everybody into a bed last night.”While there was some concern that some passports were lost or stolen during the fire, Chute said that everyone was able to retrieve their belongings, and those in the hotel who needed to make flights did so without a problem.Chute said that the first tower of the Playa Suites was re-opened after a brief inspection, and all of the partygoers staying in those rooms returned to their vacations as planned.Students staying in the second tower were re-located to the nearby Fairmont Princess Suites, and are receiving a free shuttle service back and forth from the Playa Suites to attend events included in the vacation package. All students are expected to return to the Playa Suites by Tuesday.Of the 128 students who were displaced in the fire, Studentcity.com indicated that only one was injured in the incident, and that individual was taken briefly to a hospital for observation before being released.Chute said the company’s primary concern throughout the incident was to make sure that everyone was safe, in a hotel room and that families were not worrying.”As a company, having no injuries and being able to have everyone in a bed after something like this is a very good thing,” he said. “In addition we purchased 150 phone cards to let the kids call home and tell their parents they are OK. Kids tend to forget to call home sometimes, so we were literally walking around and giving one phone card per room and telling them to call home.”