By Ugochukwu Alaribe

ABA — DEALERS on fabrics at No. 120 Jubilee road, Aba, Abia State have been thrown into mourning following a mysterious inferno which consumed goods in about 12 shops worth over N1 billion.

Eyewitnesses told South East Voice that the fire incident started from one of the shops at about 12 midnight from where it spread to other sections. However, it was gathered that there was no power supply in the area as at the time  the fire started. One of the affected shop owners, Anthony Okekeuche, said that the fire could have caused more damage but for the prompt intervention of men of the Abia State Fire Service, Aba Station who were alerted over the incident.

Okekeuche lamented that though no life was lost, the loss incurred by the traders “was one too many considering the economic recession and hardship now biting harder on Nigerians.” He said that one of the shop owners who travelled to his village for his father’s burial, lost all his goods to the fire.

•One of the burnt fabric shops.

“A shop owner who is burying his father in Anambra State as we speak lost everything as nothing was brought out from his shop. All his goods were consumed by the fire. Though we lost our goods, cash and other properties to the fire, I commend men of the Abia State Fire Service for their prompt response. They prevented the fire from spreading to neighbouring shops and houses which would have worsened the situation. The goods damaged in the inferno are worth over N1biilion,” he added.

Okekeuche then appealed to both the state and federal governments to come to their aids, stressing that many of them lost their lifetime investments to the inferno. A cross section of fabric dealers who lost their shops to the fire, expressed shock over how the mysterious fire which wrecked such monumental damage when there was no power supply in the area to the block flats, explaining that it would be difficult for them to recover the huge losses.

This was even as the South East Voice gathered that some hoodlums who pretended to be assisting in rescue operations took advantage of the confusion to loot goods saved during the incident.

A principal fire fighter, Mr. Okezie Uche, who led the rescue operation, said that he mobilized his men to the scene following report by a good Samaritan that there was a fire incident in the area at about 12. 40am.

Uche who stated that the cause of the fire outbreak was yet to be ascertained and would not want to pre-empt the outcome of investigations, warned residents to switch off electrical appliances in their homes and offices when not in use, stressing that a little spark could cause fire outbreak.