Hundreds of shops have been razed after an early morning inferno gutted the Karimo market in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The PUNCH reported that goods worth millions of Naira were lost during the fire incident on Thursday
Areas affected by the inferno included provisions, building materials, electronics, stationery, cosmetics shops, among others.
Although men of the federal fire service arrived at the scene to extinguish the fire around 2am, the damages to the shops had already been done.
The market traders’ leader, Murtala Ibrahim, was quoted by Daily Trust as saying that about “300 makeshift shops were destroyed by the fire, before it was brought under control around 2am by combined efforts of the firefighters from the government’s agencies and companies.
“Many traders who rushed to the scene on getting the information were restricted by the police and members of vigilante groups from jumping into the burning shops in an attempt to salvage some items,” Ibrahim added.
Recall that at least 200 stalls were gutted in July 2021 when the same market also went up in flames.
As of the time of filing is this report, the cause of the inferno remains unknown.
