6 burnt, raw materials razed at Onitsha paint factory

From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha and Paul Osuyi, Asaba

At least six persons sustained various degrees of injuries, yesterday, when fire gutted a paint factory in Obosi, near Onitsha.

Eyewitnesses said the fire started with an explosion from the warehouse and burnt chemicals as well as containers used in making paints before the arrival of the fire servicemen.

However, owners of the factory, known as Citizens Paints, said they were yet to ascertain the actual number of casualties as at the time of filing this report, but confirmed that all the injured persons, who were mostly workers in the factory, had been rushed to nearby hospitals for medical attention. The company’s accountant, simply identified as Smart, said neither the cause of the fire, nor the actual cost of losses had been ascertained as at the press time, even as he lamented that looters cashed in on the fire incident to steal phones and other valuable properties they found inside the compound during the raging inferno.

He, therefore, asked the workers to go home and report for normal duty the next day as, according to him, the inferno would not stop production, since it was only one warehouse that was burnt before the state fire servicemen quenched the fire.

He prayed for the survival of the victims of the fire incident. When contacted, Anambra State Fire Chief and Head of State Fire Service, Martin Agbili, confirmed the incident, but said he was still waiting for details from his men in Onitsha who rushed to the scene to salvage the situation.

Also, equipment worth millions of naira were destroyed by a midnight fire at the African Timber and Plywood (AT&P) Yard in Sapele, Delta State.

Although the factory had become moribund, the Delta State government had, two years ago, set up a committee to assess its state, to determine how the land that it occupies could be effectively utilised for economic ventures that would benefit the people of the state.

The fire, which started at the main functional factory, had wreaked havoc before firefighters from the state fire service and Seplat oil company prevented it from spreading further.

Chairman, Sapele Local Government, Eugene Inoaghan, who visited the scene, said he made the distressed call to the fire service when he learnt that the equipment had gone up in flames. 

Inoaghan said the cause of the fire was yet to be established.