A midnight fire has reportedly razed an unspecified number of shops, destroying perishable goods and other valuables worth millions of Naira at the popular Masaka market in the Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known as of the time of filing this report, but eyewitness accounts said the fire started burning from a commercial bathroom popularly known as “Kidan Wanka”, at about 11:45 pm at the wee hours of Friday and spread to other shops destroying an unquantified number of properties before it was notified.
It was gathered that some shop owners and onlookers watched helplessly as flames of fire spread in a futile attempt to quench it.
Some of the victims of the market fire shops: Musa Hudu and John Samuel told our reporters that the incident has shattered their dreams, lamenting that the incident came like a drama and no one could actually figure out the cause of the fire.
They lamented the damage caused to the market, appealing to both the Federal and state governments to come to their aid as their sources of livelihood have been destroyed.
“Our businesses which we depend on to cater for our families and others love once have been brought to a halt due to the fire incident. We feed our families from what we sell from our goods and now those things have been gone in just a few minutes. What a wicked fire
“Where do we start from? Our hopes and plans have been shattered away by the inferno. We are appealing to spirited individuals and other non-governmental organizations to please come to our assistance,” they expressed worry.
“We are devastated, frustrated and helpless. The fire disaster has wreaked serious havoc on us and it has brought untold hardship to us.”
Confirming the development in a telephone conversation, the Director of the Nasarawa State Fire Service, Builder Ombogus-Joshua, said his team received a distress call around 11.45 pm on Friday night over the incident and had made effort to render help but the effort of the firefighters was not good enough as the fire had already spread to some parts of the market.
