Benin market fire: Residents count losses as death toll remains unconfirmed

By Raphael Innocent

Traders and residents affected by Thursday’s petrol tanker fire at Oluku Market in Benin city, Edo State, are counting their losses after the inferno destroyed shops and nearby buildings.

The fire started after a petrol tanker fell while attempting a U-turn near the market, spilling fuel onto the road and adjoining drainage channels.

Several people were feared dead, while 10 injured victims were taken to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) for treatment.

One of the affected traders, Mrs Ebun Raheem, a clothes dealer, said she had restocked her shop just a day before the fire.

She said she had returned from buying new stock and regretted not taking her husband’s advice to postpone the trip until the weekend.

“I would have waited for the weekend if I knew. My husband was telling me to wait and go shopping for new stock on Saturday,” she said.

Raheem put her losses at more than N3 million.

Another trader, who pleaded anonymity, said he had recently taken a substantial loan from OPay to invest in his business, with repayment due to begin in November. He lamented that the fire had destroyed his business before he could start paying back the loan.

“This is just like a bad dream right now. How do I start paying this loan back with this disaster?” he said.

Alhaji Kazeem Hassan, a landlord whose building was also affected, said many of his tenants had recently paid their rent for the coming year, leaving him worried about how they would cope with the losses.

“You see, my tenants just paid their rent for next year. This is a very terrible thing,” he said.

Hassan urged the Edo Government to repair the road and provide assistance to those affected by the fire.

“Please, let the Edo Government do something about this bad road and come to help all these people affected by the fire,” he said.

Preye Bedford, the Edo Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) confirmed that 10 people were injured, with eight sustaining severe injuries and two others suffering less severe injuries.

As of the time of filing this report, the number of people who died in the incident remained unconfirmed, with no updated casualty figures provided by the FRSC.

(NAN)