No fewer than 50 shops were reportedly destroyed in a dawn fire outbreak at the Fatima Simra Multi-Purpose Market in the Dakata area of Kano State on Friday morning.
THE NORTHERN STAR ONLINE reports that the inferno, which reportedly started around 5:40am, left traders counting their losses as goods and property worth millions of naira were consumed by flames.
The Chairman of the market’s fire committee, Dauda Haruna Chula, confirmed the incident in an interview with journalists.
He explained that the affected shops were mostly small-scale businesses involved in oil production, as well as plastic and nylon recycling.
According to him, the fire was still raging as of the time he spoke.
“From the preliminary what we have seen, about 50 shops are already down and the fire is still ongoing. We are still expecting the Kano State Fire Service personnel,” Daily Trust quoted Chula as stating.
Chula added that market officials immediately contacted the relevant emergency agencies upon noticing the outbreak.
“We did as much as we could to call them and inform them of the situation on the ground. I can hear the sound of their car right now,” he added.
As of press time, the full extent of the damage and whether there were casualties had yet to be ascertained.
According to our reporter, some traders at the market expressed concern over what they described as a delay in the response of emergency services, saying timely intervention could have reduced the scale of destruction.
The Northern Star reports that the incident comes barely one week after a major fire outbreak reportedly affected over 1,000 traders at the popular Singer Market, also in Kano State.
However, authorities are yet to issue an official statement on the latest incident as investigations into the cause of the fire continue.
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