Fire guts Timber market in Imo, destroys goods

The Timber Market on Wetheral Road in Owerri, Imo State, was destroyed by fire on Saturday night.

When our reporter arrived on the scene, they witnessed desperate locals and victims running erratically and lamenting their losses.

The event began at 1:00 am, according to several victims, but before they could run to the market, everything was destroyed in the fire.

They criticized the state’s firefighters for being unable to control the situation.

We summoned fire fighters, one of them said. Just a water tank was all they brought. They were unable to put out the fire because it was too large. They told us their water was done before they departed.

They are still gone after several hours. As you can see, there have been more damages caused by the fire.

Another victim reported losing his two computers and other possessions to our reporter.

I lost my two machines and other items, he declared. We did not purchase any pins from the shops. Loss of everything. It’s too painful to lose.

“For us, Christmas is a dark holiday. We are unsure of our next steps. The origin of the outbreak is unknown. Here, we lost almost a billion dollars.

“The frustrating thing is that customers offloaded products worth many millions last night and went home only to be contacted hours later and told the market was on fire,” another victim complained. It is intolerable. I have suspicionsplay. The matter should be looked into by the government.

“A customer purchased wood here for N7.5 million. He promised to bring it this morning when he arrived. Even now, I have no idea what he will do. Will he ask for a reimbursement? Where will the shop owner acquire it if he does that?Our observer witnessed the destruction of a car, equipment, trees, and other items.

Firefighters had not returned as of the time this report was filed since the blaze was still burning.