Goods worth millions of naira were early Tuesday destroyed as fire ravaged the popular Kara Cow Market along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State.
About fifteen shops and four vehicles, belonging to customers, who had gone the market to buy meat for the New Year celebration were also burnt in the inferno.
Though the cause of the fire incident was yet to be ascertained as at Tuesday evening, traders at the market said that the fire started around 10 am.
The traders also said that the fire started from one of the shops close to the car park, where visitors to the market usually park their vehicles.
Firefighters from the Lagos State Fire Service and their counterparts from Ogun State were assisted by traders and residents of the area to put out the fire.
One of the traders, whose shop was burnt, MrsHabeebat Fajobi said that she was not around when the fire incident started.
The woman, who claimed to have lost everything in her shop also said that she received the news of the burnt shop on the phone from one of her co-traders.
The woman said: “I don’t know exactly where the fire started from, I don’t know where to start from, my hairdressing equipment and my daughter’s goods and some traders who also kept their goods in my shop, everything perished in the inferno.
She added that ” I just stocked my shop for Christmas and New Year celebration but now everything has perished in the fire. This is a New Year disaster for my family.”
A goat seller, whose customer lost his vehicle to the inferno, Ibrahim Muhhamee said that the owner of the burnt car had taken his goat to the slaughter slab, when the fire occurred.
Ibrahim said ” It was an unfortunate incident. The man who owns the car went to the goat slaughter slab where he went to kill the goat he bought from me. We tried to move the car, but it as a tracker.”
He added that ” Some people were able to move their cars when the fire was raging, but it was unfortunate for my customers and two others who were far away from the scene of the incident.
” We thank God no life was lost in the inferno. As big as our market we don’t have our own firefighters.” the ram seller lamented.
He also stated that “before the arrival of firefighters, the section of the market had burnt down completely. Some of the owners of the shops were unable to salvage anything from their shops .”
The leadership of the market described the incident as unfortunate and added that it would definitely affect the New Year sales in the market .
Secretary of Olorunishola Cattle Market, Babalola Adewale said there had been warnings to all the traders on the need to be very careful and prevent fire outbreak.
The market leader said, “When we entered into the dry season we also went around the market to warn them about danger associated with burning during the dry season, I was surprised when I received a phone call about the fire.”
He continued that ” I left what I was doing and rushed down to the market. Thank God it didn’t spread beyond where it started from. We wouldn’t allow anybody to build on the land until the management of the market come together to deliberate on the next action to be taken