Kaduna – 15 shops, including a pharmacy has been razed down by fire following a gas explosion on Saturday evening with one person injured
The ugly incident occurred at Ibrahim Taiwo Road by Abeokuta street in Kaduna, at about 5:40 pm on
Most of the shops affected by the gas explosion contained kitchen equipment, gas cylinders and refiling facilities
The residents chased away fire service personnel from the Kaduna State University who arrived over an hour after the fire started. One of the shop owners, Mr Ifeanyi Eze said the fire started as a result of electrical surge which led to heavy explosion in one of shops selling gas cylinders. An eye witness, Mr Samuel Emma said immediately after the explosion, fire emerged from the shop, adding that the owner was slightly burnt and was rushed to hospital. “We don’t know his situation now, but from there, the fire extended to the rest of the shops and only a few items were salvaged. “We thank God no life was lost. We called the fire service but for close to two hours we didn’t see them until one fire service vehicle from Kaduna State University came and was chased away by angry neighbors,”he said. A resident, Hamza Ado said: “we called the fire fighters but they didn’t come and when we called again we were told that they had no water in their vehicles. ” It was the youth that fetched water from all available sources to control the blaze.”
