John ODHE, Yenagoa
Residents of Otiotio Road in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state capital, are still in a mournful mood following a fire incidence that gutted thier makeshift mini estate, destroying properties worth millions of naira.
Although no life was lost, properties annihilated by the inferno included mattresses, generating sets, electronics, clothes, cash, cell phones, vital documents, kitchen utensils amongst many others.
Our correspondent who was at the scene of the disaster saw a thick smoke billowing into the sky near a three-storey building which was formerly used as Santus Super-Market by the Isaac Boro Expressway. Part of the edifice was slightly torched before the fire was put-off.
Residents were seen running headlong, trying to rescue their property, while people from the neighbourhood were struggling to extinguish the raging fire.
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According to eye witnesses and victims who spoke to our correspondent, the disaster might have been caused by someone who allegedly stocked black market fuel in one of the apartments.
One of the victims identified as Mercy Clifford from Angiama community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area recalled that she heard a sound like an explosion around 9am from a neighbour who was cooking with a stove, adding that the fire escalated immediately due to its intensity and brought down over ten makeshift houses.
Her words: “All my property, my secondary and primary school and church certificates, everything has gone. We are naked now. One of our neighbours was cooking with a stove and fire came from the stove and entered everywhere.”
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She appealed to the government and well-meaning individuals to come to their aid, adding that some of the victims were flood victims who went there to seek temporary refuge.
Another residents, Hamza Abdullahi narrated that he lost his N45,000 and property to the disaster, lamenting that he was only left with a shadow of himself.
Similarly, physically traumatized victim, who was simply identified as Kingsley from Edo state said “l no go fit talk o as l dey like this, nothing go fit come out from my mind. I no dey with myself.”
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Also, a courier disperse agent, identified as Alex Ada, said he left home as early as 7am only to be called on phone that his place of abode was on fire, lamenting that he only returned to see the debris of his property.
Some of the sympathizers who thronged the scene of incidence urged those who deal on black market fuel to be wary of the danger associated with keeping highly flammable liquids close to residential areas.
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