Get Guardian on GoogleDozens of traders in Calabar, Cross River State, are counting their losses after a fire outbreak destroyed several shops in the spare parts section of Bedwell Street by Watt Market in the early hours of Friday.
The inferno, which began around 3 am, gutted multiple shops and goods estimated to be worth millions of naira. Though no life was lost, the cause of the fire remains unknown.
Eyewitnesses said the fire spread rapidly, overwhelming shop owners who struggled to contain it without support from the state fire service, which is reportedly still undergoing rehabilitation.
“This fire consumed people’s shops and everything inside. Nobody knows how it started,” said a witness, Odibest Michael.
Several victims expressed deep frustration, with one trader recalling how he lost his first shop in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to a similar incident six years ago before relocating to Calabar to rebuild his business.
Another trader, who sold footwear, said he could not salvage a single item from his shop.
The incident is the second fire outbreak at Bedwell Market in less than a year and occurred barely a week after another blaze destroyed properties worth millions of naira in Ikom.
