The Odawna market near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle was razed down by
fire Wednesday dawn.
The incident, according to witnesses,
began around 1:am.
The fire, which witnesses said, ragged for hours, left residents
of the area and shop owners at the market, also known as the Pedestrian
Shopping Mall in shock.
Although the cause of the fire
remained unknown, videos showed the fire spreading to other parts of the
market.
A crowd gathered at the scene along
with personnel from the police and fire service.
A witness, who spoke to JoyNews, accused
some market women of being responsible for the spread of the fire.
According to the witness, when the
personnel from the fire service got to the scene, the entrance of the market
had been blocked, making it impossible for the fire tender to move to where the
fire was.
He explained that when the personnel
got in touch with the market women to move their items, they refused to allow
the men in the area to assist.
“Around 10:30 to 11 pm I was moving
from the VIP Station heading to the market when I saw smoke. It was from a
small fire. We started to put it out with water that we could find before
rushing to call the fire service,” he said.
The witness further narrated that
“the team rushed over with a vehicle and asked for the entrance to be cleared
but the women insisted that they will move the items alone. When we finally had
access to the market, we decided to remove all the cylinders from the stores
close to the fire to prevent an explosion but again the women refused.”
“They accused us of trying to steal
their stuff and locked up the market again,” he added.
“Within seconds, a cylinder exploded
and caused the fire to spread. The fire service tried to put it out but it was
difficult because of the cylinders and the types of items lying around. The
fire service came back with about 10 cars but the fire was still burning.”
That was, however, not the first time, the Odawna market had
caught fire.
In January last year, about 80
stalls were destroyed after fire swept through the market.
Although no deaths or injuries were
recorded, witnesses say large quantities of goods of assorted nature belonging
to traders were lost along with huge sums of money.
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