Property worth millions of naira were in the early hours of Sunday July 7, 2019, destroyed as fire razed the building down in Ikpo Compound, Buguma City of Asari-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The fire which reportedly started around 2:10am was said to have started from one of the shops though no life was lost in the incident but a woman known as Ms. Dokuboba Dakubo slumped as a result of the damage to the property in her shop.
Ms. Dokubo, who had been selling household items, was in tears when narrating her ordeal said that she woke up some few minutes after 2am only to see flames of fire. She immediately dashed out and raised the alarm for people to come to their rescue, saying people who came out to help tried their best but the fire grew wild and razed down the whole building.
She said though the situation was brought under control by people, yet it affected four other buildings in the compound which according to her happened with the absence of fire fighters in the local government area.
Ms. Dokubo who was badly affected lamented in tears the magnitude of her loss, wondered how life would suddenly turn sour for her. She made a passionate appeal to the government and corporate bodies to find a way of cushioning the effects of the loss in order to start life again.
Another victim, whose rented shop and property were also lost to the inferno, Miss Soibifaa George-Douglas, decried the incident, saying she lost goods worth a million naira to the fire.
She appealed to the government to assist them. She added that their only means of livelihood have been destroyed.
An eye witness disclosed that the fire, actually started about 2am but nobody could not ascertain the cause of the fire.
The chairman of the Asari-Toru local government council, Chief Odiari Princewill who visited the scene of the incident expressed deep shock at the development and promised to reach out to the victims before the week runs out and to address the plight of the shop owners.
