Days after fire gutted about 25 shops attached to the palace of the
Elekunpa of Ekunpa, Oba Kosoko, Kazeem, in the Shibiri area of Ojo Local
Government Area, Lagos State, business owners, whose shops were
affected by the inferno have yet to recover from the shock. PUNCH Metro
observed during a visit to the palace that some of the victims had
resorted to auctioning the remainder of their goods, while others, who
had sustained burns from the fire, were nursing their injuries.
One
of the victims, Eucharia Abu, said a boy was pouring fuel into a
working generator, which led to an explosion that caused all the shops
attached to the palace to be burnt.
The Imo State indigene said,
“Around 2pm, one of the boys employed at the Bet9ja shop was pouring
fuel into a generator when the generator and the keg of petrol caught
fire. Out of fear, he threw the keg away and ran for safety; and it was
that burning keg that attracted another generator, before the fire
spread to the food vendor, who was using gas to cook. It was when the
fire got in contact with the gas that the whole place exploded and the
inferno got out of control.
“The fire burnt the whole shops,
including the goods stacked in them; all my goods were burnt, because I
was completely unaware that my shop and many other had been affected
from behind. But when we noticed the fire, some boys got water to put it
out, while others climbed the rooftop and started cutting planks that
could attract fire. And that was how they prevented it from spreading to
the palace building. I lost goods worth over N100, 000, but a man who
sells flour here lost goods worth over N5m.”
A food vendor,
Selina Samson , whose shop was located beside the Bet9ja shop, said the
fire made her to lose valuables worth over N1.4m.
The Ogun State
indigene said, “I was in the shop washing the meat we bought from the
market when I heard an explosion. When I looked outside, I saw that the
generator we were using had caught fire and it had spread into my shop
located beside the Bet9ja shop.
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