Some 273 makeshift stores at the Takoradi New Market have been engulfed by fire destroying items worth millions of cedis.
According to an eyewitness account the fire started around 1 am, and alerted the Ghana Police Service, Fire Service and the Electricity of Ghana.
In an interview with Spice 91.9FM, the Western Regional Public Relations Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service, Division Officer (DO)Grade 3, Emmanuel Bonney, said, the Service received a distress call around 2:18 am from one Police Corporal Derrick.
DO Bonney noted that, on arrival, they observed that the inferno has intensified and mobilised extra 8 fire tenders from other stations to douse the fire.
“When we arrived at the scene , we realised the seriousness of the situation, and we had to call for extra help from the Volta River Authority (VRA), Fire Service of the GPHA and the Armed Forces, to bring the fire under control. We were able to extinguish the fire around 5:35 am,” he said.
The cause of the fire is not yet known according to DO Emmanuel Bonney but fire officials are at the scene to put things under control.
However, the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Coordinator for the National Disaster and Management Organization (NADMO), Mr James Obeng, said, his outfit is assessing the situation, and would compile all damages and come through with a recommendation.
Some items lost include raw food items such as yam , corn dough , beans , as well as packs of rice, oil, pile of fabrics and cosmetic products
Some affected market women are calling on the government an other stakeholders to come to their aid as millions of cedis have been lost to the fire.
Maame Adwoa, a cloth seller shared her frustrations saying, “everything was lost in the fire, there are lots of cloth which have not been paid yet. We are helpless now, the government should come and help us defray some of our losses”.
The New market was put up for traders of the Takoradi Market Circle to in the meantime accommodate them while the main market is reconstructed.
