The ravaging fire that swept through portions of the Kumasi Central Market on Wednesday night is yet to be doused as firefighters struggle with access route. The fire, which started at about 10:00pm, is said to have destroyed over 500 shops. Among the items destroyed are nearly a thousand live birds which have been completely burnt. According to eyewitnesses, the fire started from the yam market before spreading to other parts.
This is the fourth fire outbreak recorded at the market in about two years. Citi News’ Ashanti Regional Correspondent, Hawa Iddrisu, confirmed on the Citi Breakfast News at 6:00am Thursday, that firefighters are having a difficult time in their quest to extinguish the fire due to an apparent lack of access route to the point of the fire.
Issues of lack of access to the market have repeatedly come up after previous fires, but authorities have done very little to fix the problem. Hawa reports of women wailing as their livelihood were reduced to ashes in the ravaging fire. Hawa quoted some of the women as saying that, the fire, is one of the worst to have hit the Kumasi Central Market, considering the amount of goods destroyed. It is unclear what may have started the fire. Several market fires in Ghana, have often been started by activities such as cooking in the market, as well as electrical faults.
Source – Citifm
