Gov. Aminu Masari of Katsina State has described the Katsina central market fire disaster as a monumental tragedy unprecedented in the history of the state.
“The fire that gutted the central market was unprecedented,
I visited the scene, the destruction caused by the fire is too much, I really sympathized with the victims,” Masari told newsmen on Monday after the fire was put out.
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“This is one of the greatest loss I have ever seen in my life,
we cannot asses or quantify the quantum of damages done yet, until normalcy has returned,” he added.
Masari assured that the government would carry out a thorough investigation to determine the cause, identify the victims and assist them.
He sympathized with the traders and pray to Almighty Allah to compensate them.
Hundreds of shops were completely destroyed by the fire which started at about 8a.m on Monday and took firefighters several hours to contain.
The fire started at around 8 a.m., on Monday, from some shops located at the centre of the market, before it spread to other parts.
The fire is still raging as at about 12:30pm, in spite of efforts of firemen to contain it.
The inferno had destroyed property worth billions of Naira, mostly belonging to traders selling clothings, shoes, kitchen utensils, carpets, plastics among others.
Some of the traders affected said they had no idea how the fire started, but added that they had lost everything in their shops to the fire.
Alhaji Harisu Abdullahi, whose shop was among those destroyed, said it was difficult to ascertain the cause of the fire, and has left everything in the hands of Allah.
Alhaji Aminu Ibrahim, another victim, who said his shops were burnt to ashes, noted that fire fighters were unable to reach areas where the fire started, because the access road had been blocked by shops.
Malam Ibrahim Alaramma, another victim, who sells kitchen utensils, said that he lost everything to the fire.
Alaramma added that 10 of his brothers also lost everything to the fire.
The traders urged the government and other philanthropists to come to their aid as the fire had destroyed their source of livelihood.
