Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
Goods worth about N100 million were destroyed by an early morning fire that engulfed the Building Materials Market at Ogidi in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Daily Sun gathered that the fire started at about 3am at a location where a vehicle loaded with goods was parked and from there spread to 12 shops before firefighters arrived and quenched the inferno from spreading to other shops.
Chairman of the market union, Mr. Jude Nwankwo, said the lorry that first caught the fire was loaded with goods worth N50million which were meant to be transported to the Northern part of the country.
Nwankwo lauded the firefighters that arrived promptly at the scene of the fire to halt its spread beyond the lorry and the 12 shops.
“We cannot for now ascertain the cause of the fire, but it started from a parked lorry loaded with goods. The lorry carried some chemicals that made the fire to last longer than necessary. We appeal to the state government to come to our aid; help the victims who lost their goods to the fire. They don’t have any other livelihood and means of survival apart from the shops,” he said.
The State Fire Chief, Mr. Martin Agbili, who mobilised firemen to the market said no life was lost in the incident.