A mysterious fire on Tuesday night gutted some shops in Itam market, Uyo Akwa Ibom State, destroying goods worth millions of Naira.
It was gathered that the fire incident which occurred at about 9pm did not escalate to the entire market following the efforts of the youths of the area who mobilized themselves to break into some shops and evacuate some goods before the fire was put out. “Fire service people were here when I came but I couldn’t remove even a pin from the shop. Honestly, I don’t know where to start from.” John narrated amid tears.
The chairman, board of trustees, and traders forum association, Elder Godwin Ebong in an interview expressed dismay over the incident adding that the union has commenced an investigation into the matter. “About eight shops were affected but two were critically affected, if you go round, you will see that there is no electrical connection there to say maybe wire has touched or sparked and caused the fire outbreak. Occupants of some of the shops sell grains like rice, and beans, the other one sells stationery. Personally and collectively we don’t know the cause of the fire outbreak which caused so many goods to be destroyed.