Fire Destroys Foods Market in Ondo

Fire Destroys Foods Market in Ondo

Foodstuffs worth millions of naira were today destroyed by fire at the popular Odopetu market in Akure, Ondo State capital.

Though there no life was lost in the incident, it was gathered that many shops that were stocked with foodstuffs were completely destroyed leaving the shop owners with nothing to salvage.

The cause of the inferno was not known at the press time, however, the affected traders said the fire was a mysterious one.

Some of the food items destroyed by the fire included, rice, beans, tubers of yam, fowl, palm and vegetable oil among others.

A source told journalists that the fire might occurred as a result of power surge, but another source said there was no power supply to the area when the fire started in the midnight

"The cause of the fire incident is not clear yet to anyone because everybody has gone to sleep and all the traders have all gone home. We just heard the noise in the night and we got there and saw everywhere on fire," a source close to the market said.

It was also gathered that men of the Ondo State Fire Service were not around to put out the fire as all efforts made by the residents to reach them were unsuccessful

One the affected traders who identified herself as Mrs. Janet Olorunfemi said she just loaded her shop with foodstuffs to sell for the Christmas and New Year Festival, lamenting that she had lost everything to the inferno.

"I was home when somebody called to inform me at about 12 midnight that my shop was burning so I quickly rushed down there but everything in the shop was burnt down completely," she narrated

The traders called on the state government and other stakeholders to come to their assistance.

In his reaction, the Chairman of the Akure South Local Government Area, Mr. Bayo Alarapon, described the incident as unfortunate. He said the Council would set up a panel to investigate the incident.

He said: "It is very unfortunate that this kind of incident is happening during this hard time of economic recession, however, on our own part, we shall look for ways to assist the affected traders."