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From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
Fire has gutted a multi million naira palm kernel oil extracting industry, located at the Onuebonyi axis of Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
Also burnt were palm kernel worth over N200 million, refined and unrefined oil as well and a Toyota Sienna bus.
Executive Director of the industry, Emmanuel Alinchi, said he noticed fire and smoke emission in the industry by 12:45am, noting that before the arrival of the men of fire service, the entire structure had been engulfed. He appealed to the state government for intervention, emphasising that all the extracting machines in the industry were destroyed by fire.
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A relation of the victim, Hillary Alinchi, said the cause of the fire incident was not known as it happened in the night, emphasising that the fire would have spread to other private buildings in the area, if not for the resilience of the firefighters who arrived early.
He said about 50 workers had lost their jobs as a result of the inferno and appealed to Governor Francis Nwifuru to invoke the spirit of People’s Charter of Needs to resuscitate the industry.
Director, State Fire Service, Raphael Ibiam, said his team arrived on time, but decried that the industry was jam-packed with combustible materials. He, however, pointed out that no life was lost in the incident.
