By Muinat Usman
Property worth millions of Naira have been destroyed by early morning inferno at Kara Market, in Ajase-Ipo, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The fire gutted 22 shops and 6 containers housing different categories of goods worth millions of Naira out of the over 323 shops in the market.
The inferno left affected traders at the popular Ajase-ipo Kara Market counting their losses.
A statement by the Head of Media of the Kwara State Fire Service, Mr. Hakeem Hassan Adekunle, indicates that the fire broke out around 1:35 a.m destroying the shops before firefighters arrived to put it under control.
According to the statement, preliminary investigations revealed that the outbreak was caused by negligence, after a trader allegedly left cooking fire unattended, which later reignited and spread rapidly to nearby shops.
The Director of the Kwara State Fire Service, through his spokesperson, SFO Adekunle, expressed concern over recurring cases of negligence that often result in such tragedies.
He urged market men and women, as well as the public, to always exercise caution by properly extinguishing fire after use and avoiding carelessness, especially in markets where combustible materials abound.
Edited by Abdullahi Ahmed