Residents of Ogwashi-Uku, headquarters of Aniocha South Local Government Area, Delta State, were Tuesday, thrown into confusion as Sylverson Supermarket was reduced to ashes by early morning fire, destroying goods worth millions of naira.
The walls of the Supermarket, which was situated along the busy old Ogwashi-Uku/Benin road, was brought down by the inferno as fire fighters from the state fire service in the town could not save the situation.
Vanguard gathered that operational truck of the fire service could not start.
A source who did not disclosed his name, told Vanguard that the Supermarket had operated for over 25 years in the premises, lamenting that the owner of the supermarket was slumped on hearing the news of the incident.
Saying that he but however rushed to the hospital for medical attention, he expressed hope that the Supermarket Proprietor was recuperating as at the time of filing in this report.
He said the fire started at about 3 am, lamenting that all efforts made by sympathisers to salvage some goods were unsuccessful due to the intensity of the fire.
While saying that the fire could not have been caused by electrical fault, he said public light went off at about 12 midnight.
He said: “We were awaken by explosions and noise around the supermarket at about 3am.
“The fire was so tense that it became difficult to salvage anything out from the shop to the point that the walls collapsed; everything inside was burnt completely.
“The issue of suspecting electrical fault can not hold water because the public electricity went off by 12 midnight and the incident happened at at 3am. Again the supermarket doesn’t make use of public light, it relies on its generating sets”.
The Director of fire services in the state, Mr Eugene Oziwele who later visited the scene, said it would be premature to draw a conclusion on the cause of the inferno, saying that his men who were handy met a brick wall as they could not gain access due to the iron door that was heavily padlocked.
Eziwele said: “I was told the operator makes use of generators every day; we are still investigating”, explaining that “the explosions noticed were caused by insecticide cans, perfumes, etc which are highly inflammable.”
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