Goods, property destroyed as fire guts auto parts market in Abia

An early morning fire destroyed four auto parts stores in Aba, Abia state.

Only a few steel products were reportedly salvaged from the fire which occurred on Friday.

Chimezie Dike, one of the affected traders, said two of his stores were burnt.

“I don’t know how the fire got there because there is no electricity connection to the shops,” Dike said.

“I was in my house at about 1:30 am when I got a call to come to Jubilee Road Spare Parts Market where I have shops, because the shops were on fire.

“By the time I got here, I saw that the fire, which had become intense, had gutted one of my shops and was consuming the second one.

“It also consumed two shops of my neighbours. People came to help, the Aba fire service also came and helped to douse the fire.”

The trader said he lost goods worth N4 million, while his neighbour had wares of not less than N2 million burnt.

Uchechukwu Ezenwa, another trader affected by the fire, put his estimated loss at N5 million.

Both Dike and Ezenwa appealed to the government and well-meaning Nigerians to come to their aid.

Belenta Belenta, commander of the fire service in Aba, confirmed the incident, saying the service responded quickly to the site to put out the fire.

On Wednesday, some sections of the Akere automobile parts market in the Olodi-Apapa area of Lagos state were razed by fire.