Vehicles, shops and equipment worth millions of naira have been burnt to ashes.

The incident happened at the old timber market along Wethderal road in Owerri, Imo state.

An eyewitness said the fire outbreak started early hours around 2 am on Saturday.

Some persons spoke about the cause of the fire incident and blamed it on an electrical fault. Just as others alleged it was caused by the burning of dustbins around the area.

A visit to the scene of the incident, saw sympathisers helping to extinguish the light. Some were seen evacuating the debris, Vanguard reports.

Scavengers were also on hand to buy the damaged roofs, irons, and other items for their business.

An eyewitness said some of the shop owners had travelled and their apprentices were the ones around to witness the ugly incident.

One of the eyewitnesses who introduced himself as Mr Ike said: “The fire started burning around 2 am on Saturday. At first, we saw a small fire and we thought it was somebody burning a refuse dump. After about 30 minutes we started hearing explosions from different areas inside the market.

“And it became a large fire. It burnt the transformer. It burnt the vehicles. The fire burnt the furniture, the shops were completely razed down. Many properties were destroyed. We lost a lot of things. I work around the market and make some money from assisting in doing one or two jobs.”

Other sympathisers said: “The incident happened when people were preparing for the Christmas season and it will put a hardship on the victims and make them suffer more.”

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