Goods and property worth millions of naira were destroyed by fire late Wednesday at Port Harcourt Timber Market, popularly called Plank Shade” in the Marine Base area.
Also gutted by the fire were shops belonging to furniture, coffin makers, aluminium, zinc, as well as residential houses in the vicinity.
Efforts by residents to quench the inferno before it got to other parts of the markets were abortive as no wooden shops close to the market was spared.
A shop owner who preferred to be addressed as Chigozie said calls put across to fire service were abortive as “until morning, no official from the Fire Service was seen at the scene.”
Tamuno Akuro, a resident in Marine Base, said the market gets burnt yearly, especially in December, but there was no fire last December.
The market has caught fire eight times in the last eight years. The inferno becomes the third fire incident happening in less than a month in Rivers state.
Prev Post
Kanu threatens to hunt Governor Wike over Obigbo killings