A devastating midnight fire on Thursday gutted the Nnewi Timber Market in the Nnewi North area of Anambra State, destroying goods and machines worth Billions of naira.
Eyewitnesses told Talktalk4Naija News that five traders in the market collapsed and were rushed to hospitals due to shock of losing their valuables in the inferno.
The Chairman of the Nnewi Timber Dealers Association, Chief Chukwunonso Nnetu, said a security guard in the market alerted him some minutes past midnight to the inferno.
Nnetu explained that firefighters in Awka, Nnewi and Onitsha fire service stations were immediately contacted to fight the fire.
Nnetu added, “The Nnewi Fire Service men later arrived though the fire had reached an advanced stage.
“We lost about 155 shops, 555 sawing and curving machines valued at N2m each were destroyed; different categories and quantities of woods and planks were also destroyed.
“We don’t know the exact cause of the fire, but we have lost well over N3bn to the inferno.”
He said most of the traders have lost their only means of survival unless government intervenes.
Secretary to the market association, Mr Jude Ugwu, who noted that the fire affected most processing machines, wondered how the traders would overcome the loss in this time of recession.
Eyewitnesses told Talktalk4Naija News that five traders in the market collapsed and were rushed to hospitals due to shock of losing their valuables in the inferno.
The Chairman of the Nnewi Timber Dealers Association, Chief Chukwunonso Nnetu, said a security guard in the market alerted him some minutes past midnight to the inferno.
Nnetu explained that firefighters in Awka, Nnewi and Onitsha fire service stations were immediately contacted to fight the fire.
Nnetu added, “The Nnewi Fire Service men later arrived though the fire had reached an advanced stage.
“We lost about 155 shops, 555 sawing and curving machines valued at N2m each were destroyed; different categories and quantities of woods and planks were also destroyed.
“We don’t know the exact cause of the fire, but we have lost well over N3bn to the inferno.”
He said most of the traders have lost their only means of survival unless government intervenes.
Secretary to the market association, Mr Jude Ugwu, who noted that the fire affected most processing machines, wondered how the traders would overcome the loss in this time of recession.