Fire Guts Port-harcourt Major Market

Goods worth millions of naira have been destroyed in an inferno that gutted the Rivers state Newlayout Market in town axis of Port Harcourt.

The course of the fire is still unknown but DAILY POST gathered that the fire disaster occurred around 8pm (Tuesday night).

Chairman of the market, Jack Robinson said the fire may have started with a spark from one of the shops after power was restored.

Robinson also said the fire started from Lane 2 of the market.

An obviously devastated victim of the inferno said: “I got a call that fire was burning in our market, then me and my children ran there immediately. I got there and I was looking at how my shop was burning. My supermarket has finished. I am finished. I have been crying. I don’t know what to do again.

An eyewitness said, “many of them just returned from Onitsha and Aba to refill their stores and this kind of thing has happened. This fire disaster happens every year. We don’t know what to do, I don tire.”

Meanwhile, the Rivers state Government said the state government was worried why there is recurrence of inferno engulfing major markets every year.

State Commissioner for Special Duties, Dickson Omunakwe in an interview with DAILY POST said the Ministry has been proactive in sensitizing traders and shop owners to maintain high safety standards.

Omunakwe said averting a fire outbreak was not only the responsibility of government, stressing that it is multi-dimensional.

He expressed sadness at the incident but assured that investigations will be carried out before government will take any action.

According to him, “First of all, we will investigate the cause of the incident and then when we finish with our investigation, we will have an informed opinion of what to do.