City Info
Fire Razes 6 Houses, Shops In Calabar
Tears flowed, yesterday, at the sight of houses and blocks of shop gutted by fire at Eyo Edem axis of the popular Watt Market in Calabar South.
Residents said about six houses with assorted household items and four shops in the market were affected.
Caretaker Committee Chairman for Calabar South, Mr Mbo Bassey, who confirmed the incident, said it was difficult to establish the cause of the fire which started at about 2a.m. and that property worth millions of Naira were lost to the uncontrollable inferno.
He said: “Although there was no light (electricity) Monday night when the shops closed , but where surprised the fire disaster consumed six houses and four shops.
“I want to strongly believe that one of the tailoring shops or the barbing saloon had left an electrical appliance on before going home, which ignited the fire when the power was later restored early hours of this morning (yesterday).”
A resident and a victim living in one of the destroyed houses, simply identified as Etim, said he lost all his household items which took him many years to get.
He appealed to Cross River State government and State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, to come to their aid as they have lost everything in the fire. Another affected resident, Moses Enobong, said he contacted Fire Service but that the men could do nothing much.
He called on the state government to equip the Fire Agency with functional fire-fighting tools to help during emergencies.
The Public Relations Officer of the State Fire Service, Cletus Makpere, said: “Firemen were called at about 2:30a.m. yesterday. It happened at Eyo Edem Watt Market. Our men were there and were able to bring the fire under control.
“The cause of the fire is still under investigations. Our men have gone to do post-fire inspection to ascertain the cause. That is the situation.”
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