By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

No fewer than four persons have been confirmed dead and twelve injured following an explosion at the Onitsha Chemical Market.

The explosion which led to an inferno that destroyed goods worth several millions of naira, in addition to several shops.

The explosion occurred at about 12:45 p.m. at the market leading to a stampede.

Chairman of Onitsha South Local Government Area, Mr Emeka Orji, on getting wind of the incident stormed the area with members of his staff and contacted the Anambra State Fire Service led by Martin Agbili, who deployed officers and men of the department from Okpoko in Ogbaru Local Government Area of the state, and that of Asaba in Delta State, who took over the market.

He also contacted the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Fegge, Rabiu Garuba, who deployed officers and men to the market to guarantee security of goods and other properties belonging to the traders.

Narrating his story, a trader, Uchenna Nweke, who spoke to our Correspondent, said: “We were at our shops as usual when we heard a loud noise like a bomb blast and we saw thick smoke from some shops upstairs and everyone started running for safety.

“Then people started shouting for help and we saw people carrying bodies of people from those shops that were on fire and some were burnt pretty badly while some seem to have been suffocated by the smoke and the stampede.

“We don’t know how much that have been lost to the fire but it can be estimated at N 850 million to about N1 billion because the goods are strong chemical products that are highly inflatable; he said.

Speaking on the incident the Onitsha South Council Chairman, Mr Emeka Orji, said that the incident was unfortunate adding that the decongested market almost made it difficult for officers and men of the Anambra Fire Service to put off the fire

“We are happy that the Anambra state Fire Service came on time to prevent the inferno from going deep into the market.

“Our proactive measures about fire outbreak also paid off because we had put in place fire-fighting gadgets in some lines and that was what the traders and market task force team were using to fight the fire before the Anambra state Fire Service came in.

“The number of deaths could not be ascertained as well as the number of those injured but those injured have been rushed to the medical facilities around the area and we are happy that most of them are responding to treatment,” he said.

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