An early morning fire outbreak on Tuesday, destroyed properties worth millions of Naira at the Atakumosa Central market in Ilesa, Osun state.
The fire which started around 1am raged on for over two hours before it was put out around 3:45am by operatives of fire service in the state.
Eyewitness account disclosed that the fire broke out early hours without knowing its cause and the intensity of the fire could not be contained by the group of people trying to put it out, adding that fire fighters were summoned.
WITHIN NIGERIA learnt that many shops were destroyed in the inferno as it kept spreading to other shops within the market.
Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Folasade Odoro disclosed that police deployed men to the scene to forestall wanton looting of shops by miscreants.
She added that the extent of damage cannot be ascertained yet, but confirmed that several shops were razed by the outbreak.
Also speaking, the Administrative Officer of the state fire service, Fatai Aremu said the agency’s operatives responded in time but could not access the market early because of barriers on the road.
He added that it took the operatives almost four hours to put it out.
“We responded on time but could not access the scene early enough due to barriers on the road. We cannot ascertain the worth of good destroyed but it is very severe.
“It took our operatives almost four hours to put out the fire after gaining access to the scene. Many shops were affected and goods worth millions consumed in the incident”, he said.