Millions down the drain as fire razes shops in Delta

There was confusion and anguish at Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area, Delta State on Tuesday, as a building housing several shops along the old Lagos-Asaba Road in the metropolis was razed by fire.

Though no life was lost in the incident, sources said a sympathizer fell from a culvert in the melee and had her legs smashed a trailer fully loaded with Liquified Petroleum Gas, LPG, otherwise known as cooking gas.

Goods and properties worth millions of naira were lost as the stalls which included a Scan/X-Ray diagnostic center, MTN sales outlet, hair salon, stationary stores, electronics shops, car sales outlet among others, were destroyed by the raging inferno.

It however, took the intervention of hundreds of sympathisers to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby buildings and business premises.

A source said officials of the State fire service who were called to the scene, responded promptly but came with an almost empty tank of water.

At the time of filing this report, there were varying accounts of the cause of the inferno which started at about 11 am.

One of the sources said the fire may have started from the burning of refuse around a shop within the premises.

Another source said the fire started from one of the generators within the business premises that were converted to gas.

A victim of the fire insident, Pastor Emeka Nnoruka said he lost all his equipment in the fire as he couldn’t salvage anything due to the intensity of the inferno.