Residents of Ezinifite Village, Okpuno in Awka South Local Government Area, woke up yesterday to the shocking news of a mysterious fire that razed a provision and dry-cleaning shops located in one building, off Barrister C.O. Akabogu Street, but no life was lost in the incident.
The inferno was said to have started at about 11:30 p.m. yesterday and raged till about 3. a.m. today when firefighters arrived and extinguished it.
Narrating her ordeal, the owner of the provision shop, Mrs. Chika Obasi, who estimated her loss at over nine million naira, said that she had gone to Eke Awka Market yesterday where she purchased goods worth over two million naira to restock her shop, and left for home at about 9 p.m., only to receive a distress call later in the night that her shop was on fire, lamenting that her life savings and years of hard work has been destroyed.
Also speaking, the owner of the laundry shop, Mr. John Vincent, whose wife recently put to bed, expressed regret that customers’ clothes in his shop were burnt to ashes, but noted that neighbours were able to rescue his washing machine and generator before he arrived the scene, while the owner of the building, Pastor Henry Obidimma, explained that they had already gone to bed when they began to hear strange noise which they initially thought were armed robbers, adding that the cause of the fire could not be immediately ascertained, especially as there was no power supply in the area until about 4: a.m this morning.
