Fire Guts Kumasi Market

DISASTER STRUCK the Kumasi Central Market on Sunday evening when a ferocious fire swept through parts of the cloth-selling portion of the market located within the Subin area.

Property worth thousands of Ghana cedis got destroyed in the raging fire which started in the market.

The jubilation associated with the win over Accra Hearts of Oak by Kumasi Asante Kotoko in the ongoing Glo premiership league was short-lived when news about the fire broke around 8pm.

As usual, the source of the fire outbreak was not immediately known but it was believed that the vicious fire was started by a faulty electrical connection in that part of the market.

When DAILY GUIDE visited the ravaged portion of the market, people who had their property destroyed were busily trying to salvage what they could lay their hands on.

Members of the public, with assistance from the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) city guards, helped the victims to gather the debris from the destruction of their properties.

Human traffic built up at the congested market when anxious people from all walks of life stormed the scene of the incident to catch a glimpse of the destruction as well as sympathize with the victims.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that though the personnel of the National Fire Service (NFS) responded on time, they found it difficult accessing the scene of the incident, thereby thwarting their efforts to fight the fire on time.

Information indicated that the fire gathered momentum and spread to other adjoining stalls due to the location of a shea butter shop.

The location of shoe makers shop, DAILY GUIDE was told, also aided the fire to spread at a quicker pace.

Eyewitnesses told the paper that had the personnel from the NFS not arrived on time and maneuvered their way to get access to the scene to fight the fire, the magnitude of the disaster would have been greater.

This is not the first time the Kumasi central market has been gutted by fire. During the latter part of last year, the '18 mu' portion of the market where foreign money dealers operated also caught fire.

The market also floods when the Subin River overflows its banks, destroying property worth thousands of Ghana cedis in the process.

Any time such a disaster strikes the ancient market, city authorities hurriedly organize a tour of the market and come out with mouthwatering promises of effective reconstruction.

From Morgan Owusu, Kumasi