BY Ebere Suzy
Mysterious Fire in the early hours of Saturday hit Zone 3 section of Marine Road Ose Okwuodu Market Onitsha in Anambra State and destroyed over three hundred stores with goods worth over N100 million.
The inferno according to an eye witness was said to have started at about 3am in the morning, destroying property and goods, although the causes of inferno could not be ascertained as at press time.
Taking newsmen around the scene of the fire incident, the Chairman Ose Okwuodu Market Mr.Sunday Ewulum expressed sadness over the inferno, he narrates on how he was called by the security men stationed at the market around 3am in the moening but the fire service men in the market were no where to be found at the time of the incident which made the fire to escalate.
Ewulum said that it was later after several calls that they got intervention of fire service men from Okpoko Ogbaru and Main Market Onitsha as well as the traders battled for hours to put off the fire.
He listed the affected sections as Tailoring Material Line, Fishing Material, Local Gin, Second hand cloths and material, bags of Rice and Yams section of the market as well as Igbo Igala speaking section.
He appealed to the State Government and State Emergency Agency to come to the aid of the affected victims as they have no means of livelihood.
The President Amalgamated Market Traders Association of Anambra State (AMATAS), Chief Okwudili Ezenwankwo who visited the scene of the fire incident said the State Government attention will be drawn to the plights of the affected traders, adding that efforts to educate the traders on the need of insurance is underway.
Chief Ezenwankwo who solicited for the assistance of the State Government to the victims as the victims has no hope to start a new life, noted that he will not relent to ensure that the panel of inquiry is set to investigate the causes of the fire.
The AMATAS boss also described the inferno as massive blow and stated that a new structure will be erect in the area to avoid future occurrences as most structures in the area were built with zinc.
According to him, effort is on top gear to save guard all the markets in the state against fire incident, advising the traders to be alert and ensure that they put off anything that may lead to such fire incident.
Reacting on the incident, the Chairman Onitsha North Local Government Area Dr. Douglas Nwachukwu Egbuna who also visited the scene at the early hours of the day described the incident as unfortunate and called on affected traders to be calm as they will follow the due process of investigation as to ascertain the cause.
Meanwhile some of the affected traders Mrs. Theresa Okoye, Josephine Nnebuife, Peter Okonkwo lamented on their losses and appealed to the State Government, wealthy individual and philanthropist to come to their aid.
