Onitsha
traders and small scale industrialists lost goods and properties worth
millions of naira yesterday in Onitsha following an early morning fire
that gutted the polythene dealers market, Nwaizu Estate, Awada.
Three businessmen, who could not
withstand the enormity of their losses allegedly attempted suicide by
jumping into the raging fire but they were later rescued by fellow
traders.
Traders watched helplessly as nothing was recovered from the inferno.
Scores of distraught shop owners in the
market said the inferno started in the market at about 2am, after a
storm with claps of thunder ripped through the area and a nearby shop
caught fire which spread to the entire market.
Giving further insight on the incident,
the Chairman of Progressive Polythene Dealers Welfare Association, Mr.
Vincent Elechi, said the traders had suffered terrible losses and
regretted that the situation would have been salvaged if the state fire
service had responded promptly.
“From our findings, it was the electric
pole at the entrance of the market that caught fire when thunder
struck. But immediately I got the information, I alerted the state fire
service and they promised to come, but later said they needed to refill
their water tank. By the time they arrived, everywhere was on fire
because our products are highly inflammable. We have more than 3,000
traders and small scale industrialists here but all our years of toiling
have been reduced to ashes. Though we are still counting our losses,
presently more than N500 million has gone down the drain,’’ he said.
Corroborating the chairman’s claims,
the Vice Chairman of the market, Francis Ubakasi, said some people were
rescued from the fire when they attempted suicide.
He stated that the market served the
polythene needs of Nigerians and some African countries, while some of
them borrowed money from the banks to finance the procurement of their
machine tools.
The traders appealed to the state government to come to their aid to cushion the effect of their losses.
Source: Daily Sun Newspaper
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