Goods worth millions of naira were destroyed in a fire disaster triggered by a gas explosion at the Marian Fruits Market in Calabar, the Cross River State capital on Tuesday.
According to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that it took men of the Federal Fire Service about five hours to put out the fire, which destroyed goods in more than 30 lockup shops.
The Federal Fire Service Commanding Officer, Olumayowa Olomola, in Calabar said the fire disaster was caused by a gas explosion in one of the lockup shops.
Mrs Olumayowa said that the command received a distress call at 2.40 a.m. when the fire started and its operatives immediately swung into action.
“The fire started from one of the shops where the occupant, a woman who was boiling beans slept off.
“The woman in question had other cylinders filled with gas in her shop and this led to the explosion when what she was cooking got burnt.
“There was no response from any other fire service until the Federal Fire Service put out the fire around 7 a.m,’’ she added.
