Fire gut Koforidua central market
Fire has gutted parts of the Kantamanto market in Accra’s central business district.
The fire reportedly started around 10 pm on Tuesday, according to an eyewitness who spoke to the media.
By 10:20 pm, the fire had gone out of control and some onlookers ran to the nearby fire station to request help.
Fire service personnel reportedly got to the market at around 11 pm, with the firefighters helping to douse the fire which is reported to have so far destroyed many goods, including clothes.
It remains unclear what may have started the fire.
A similar incident in that same enclave occurred last month, affecting the Accra Central Branch of the GCB Bank, and razing down one of the bank’s offices.
Koforidua Fire
In a related development, a number of shops situated in the central business area of Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital, were destroyed by a fire outbreak on Tuesday morning.
According to reports, the fire outbreak reportedly started around 10am, and spread quickly to destroy a number of stores, including the local branch of the Upper Manya Krobo Rural Bank Limited.
Items that were found destroyed included electrical materials, perishable goods, foodstuffs such as cooking oil, plastic materials and other inflammables.
It took the National Fire Service team close to an hour to extinguish the fire that had already destroyed several stores after several unsuccessful attempts by some volunteers to extinguish the fire themselves.
Unknown cause
Addressing the media after the disaster, the Eastern Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana National Fire Service, Assistant Divisional Officer one Ignatius Kwamena Baidoo, said the cause of the fire outbreak was yet to be established. He said further investigation would be conducted into the incident by an investigation team.
He advised the public to be very mindful of how they use fire in public spaces and how they deal with electrical issues.
According to him, these are the major factors that begin and fuel fire outbreaks.
Meanwhile, some market women and shop owners have disclosed that they have lost all their goods and properties.
A victim, Regina Obuobi, in an interview mentioned that she had lost goods worth millions of Ghana cedis and a cash amount of GHC 10,000.
They appealed to the government to come to their aid and restore their loss.
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