By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Goods and property worth millions of naira have been razed down. Five shops located within the premises of the Onitsha General Post Office, along Old Market Road, a working distance to the main market in Anambra State, were affected.

The inferno which was said to have started around 12.30 midnight on Sunday, was due to a power surge that emanated from one of the shops.

Eyewitnesses said that as the fire was about to escalate into a nearby filling station close to the scene, it created panic, adding that people and members of local vigilante groups quickly intervened to control the fire.

A trader, Monica Awuruebo, whose shop was among those razed by the fire, said that she lost all her goods, cash, and other items in the fire incident.

She said: “A food vendor who is my neighbour called me on the telephone to rush to the post office immediately because my shop was on fire. I rushed to the scene and behold, my goods in the shop have been turned to ashes, and not a pin was recovered from my shop.

“Even my creditor that I told to come and collect her money and because she wasted time, the money and my goods were lost to the fire. We have about five shops here and they were all torched including scores of make-shift structures.

“You can see that we have a Total filling station close and if not by the grace of God, it would have been gutted by fire and that would have caused more damage and even loss of life. Thank God no life was lost.”

Though Awuruebo said the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, she alleged that it could have resulted from a power surge.

During a visit to the area, no firefighters or policemen were seen at the scene while residents claimed that all efforts made to alert firefighters proved abortive.

The state fire chief, Martin Agbili, did not respond to calls.