Cintia A. , Lebledparle.com
A raging fire outbreak has razed several buildings and shops at Ifejika Street along Sokoto Road in Onitsha Main Market, Anambra State, Nigeria. The inferno, which started this Friday, has been burning for nearly eight hours, leaving devastation in its wake as firefighters struggle to contain the flames. According to reports on ground the fire consumed numerous shops, warehouses, and buildings, destroying goods estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of naira. The intensity of the fire forced residents living nearby to flee their homes due to the unbearable heat.
Despite the deployment of more than some fire service vehicles, efforts to extinguish the fire have proved futile. The sight of desperate shop owners and warehouse managers weeping over their lost investments has painted a sorrowful picture of the tragic event.
This disaster comes just days after another fire outbreak at the popular Iweka Road, near Ochanja Market in Onitsha, where goods worth millions of naira were also lost during a nighttime blaze on Tuesday. The recurrence of such incidents raises concerns on why the state doesn’t have a proper functional fire department.
The full extent of the damage is yet to be determined, but the economic and emotional impact on business owners remains devastating.
