One person was reported to have died, while above 500 shops were destroyed as a result of fire outbreak that occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning, at the Railway Station Market, in Kaduna South local government area of the state.
An eye witness told the Nigerian Tribune that the fire started around 2a.m. and until 12 noon, the fire was still on without the state fire service attempting to putting out the fire, leading to the destruction of goods worth over N100 million.
He said one of the traders in the market died inside his shop during the fire outbreak.
The cause of the fire was still unknown but it was gathered that it could be as a result of electrical fault in the market. While another version had it that the fire emanated from a restaurant located right in the middle of the market.
Igwe Onyeka lamented that the fire destroyed five of his shops that were rented to traders in the market. Igwe said, “I was sleeping when I received a phone call around 2.30a.m. that the Station Market was on fire. Before I got there, the damage has been done. Three of my shops rented out to the traders were all razed. The damage was too much; goods worth millions of naira were lost. One woman bought goods worth N1.1 million yesterday and everything was lost to the fire, another woman beside my shop lost goods worth over N5 million"
Also, Vice Chairman of the market, Mr John Nwokoye, while narrating his ordeal said that though he did not know how the fire started, he received a call from one of his boys around 2a.m. that the whole market was in flame.
He added that over 500 shops with goods worth over N100 million perished in the fire. Nwokoye blamed the state fire service for not doing enough to stop the fire and save the goods.
Nwokoye said, “I didn’t see any fire service, I learnt one came complaining of lack of water and went back, before it reached the bridge it broke down. Goods worth about N100 million was lost to the fire, I have two shops where I sell foodstuffs and provision and they were both burnt. The number of shops burnt was over 500, one person was killed by the fire, he was locked inside his shop where he died.”
Meanwhile, Kaduna Railway Market that was gutted by fire in the early hours of Tuesday is to be rebuilt and the traders relocated from the current place, the state governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai has said.



http://www.tribuneonlineng.com/fire-razes-300-shops-at-station-market-in-kaduna.