We just saw the market burning and we did not know the cause of the fire. All efforts to put out the fire was not successful because of the intensity.
No fewer than 300 shops and goods worth millions of naira were on Saturday night destroyed by fire that engulfed Santana Market on Sapele Road in Benin, Edo State.
News Agency of Nigeriareports that residents and owners of the shops could not salvage the situation due to the intensity of the fire.
A resident around the market, Monday Ogbeide, said the fire started at about 11:00pm on Saturday.
He said, “We just saw the market burning and we did not know the cause of the fire. All efforts to put out the fire was not successful because of the intensity.
“When we got there, we called fire service but they did not respond.”
It was learnt that it took the effort of fire fighters from the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company to put out the fire.
All effort to reach the state fire service to find out why they did not respond to distress calls put across to them was not successful.