Artisans and traders at the Nsukka mechanic and spare parts site are now counting their losses following a fire that gutted the market.
Orient Daily correspondent, who visited the site, reports that the fire razed four spare parts shops and six cars brought for repairs.
Conducting newsmen round the scene of the disaster, Mr. Silas Eze, the chairman of Nsukka Industrial Mechanic Site, described the incident as unfortunate and painful, saying it had put the owners of the affected shops in very hard conditions.
“Four shops loaded with motor spare parts and working equipment as well as six cars brought for repairs by customers were razed to ashes by the inferno. It is a painful moment for us in the site as the fire completely burnt shops, motor spare parts, equipment and cars worth over N50 million to ashes.
“Nobody knows what owners of the six cars brought for repair will say if they will tell the mechanic to replace their cars,” he said.
Eze said the cause of the fire was not known as security officials on duty said that it was when they saw the flame that they rushed to the scene and started raising alarm.
“We are yet to know the cause of the fire because it happened early in the morning. It’s the security people on duty that saw the flame and started calling us after they had done their best to put it out and it was not possible,” he said.
He appealed to the public, corporate bodies and governments to come to the aid of the affected shop owners that lost everything to start life again. “I call on the public, corporate bodies and governments to come to the rescue of the victims who lost all the things they had laboured for,” he said.
The chairman urged the state government to consider the establishment of a fire station in the site to reduce the damage in future. “The fire service in Nsukka responded well and did their best because without them more shops could have been destroyed. But if there was a fire station in this site, the fire would have been put off as soon it was noticed,” he said.
Speaking, one of the victims, Mr. Christopher Ozulu, said the fire has wreaked him as he had lost all that he laboured for so many years.
“Even a pin was not rescued from my shop where I get money to feed my family and take care of other responsibilities. My children are in the universities and in secondary schools; where will I get money to feed my family and sponsor them in school?
“I beg the government and public to come to my aid as well as other three people whose shops were razed during that inferno,’’ he said.
Another victim, Mr. Isiogu Nwabueze, who owned the shop where six cars were burnt, said he was yet to recover from the psychological trauma as he does not know what he would tell the owners of the cars.
“As I am thinking about everything in my shop, I am also thinking of what the owners of the cars will say about their cars that have been burnt to ashes. This is the most trying moment in my life, I beg the government to come and help me as well as other victims of this disaster,” he said.