H eartbroken traders are still counting their loses following an early morning fire which engulfed sections of Otukpo main market in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State.
Benue/Plateau Trust reports that the fire was said to have started at around 4:00am on Monday from the fish and palm oil section of the market before it spread to other areas.
Witnesses said although fire fighters arrived early, they could not make headway into the market on time due to blocked access road.
The witnesses also alleged that hoodlums took advantage of the situation and looted some shops.
A widowed mother of four children, Rose Ikwebe, who sells foodstuff at the market, claimed to have lost about N2.5million worth of goods to the inferno.
Ikwebe said that she only got wind of the tragic incident about 6:20am and on getting to the scene, discovered that her shop, stocked with different grains as well as sugar, was completely razed down.
Similarly, Josephine Eze, a mother of four children who deals in food items, said she lost everything to the fire and would have to begin all over again.
For Victoria Onoja, who lost goods in two warehouses to the inferno, should only wave her hands into the air intermittently for lack of words to describe her loses.
Also, Augustina Apeh, a newly married woman who sells crayfish and tomato puree, said she lost almost N8 million to the inferno.
Apen broke down in tears severally as she spoke to our correspondent, stressing that all the money her customer paid her earlier before the incident was also lost in the fire.
“I don’t know where to run to. I don’t have anyone to help me,” she said in tears.
Another victim, Mariam Mohammed, who lost N2 million stockfish and crayfish to the fire urged government to assist them.
Meanwhile, Governor Samuel Ortom has donated the sum of N50 million to the victims of the fire incident.
Ortom, who visited the market to assess the situation, sympathised with the traders and assured them that government would assist them in every way possible to recover.
He said the donation was an interim support to the victims to enable them to start life again pending the outcome of the report of a committee he would constitute to inquire into the incident.
Ortom added that the executive committee would equally plan how the traders will be relocated from the present location to a new site.
Earlier, the council chairman of Otukpo, George Alli, said over 315 shops were burnt, adding that the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.
“We are making plans to relocate the traders to a new site. We just secured a place and we are making plans to open it up such that fire trucks and other vehicles can pass through whenever there is an emergency.’’
