Fire destroys 10 shops at the Bamenda food market

Bags of Rice, ‘Garri’, Sugar, Soap and other goods vanished in the flames whose origin is yet to be determined.

Locals around the Food Market say they saw unusual light in the market early Tuesday by 2am and suspected it was fire incident. Upon their arrival, the inferno had already gone wild. Buckets of fire, sand and other items used to quench the flames proofed futile.

Fire fighters from the Army Rescue unit only succeeded to put off the flames by 6am.

Though the cause of the fire is not known, traders suspect a criminal act because a day before some tracks circulated warning traders who have continued to sell on ghost town days. Traders at the Food market in Bamenda have accused others from Bamenda main market and neighboring markets that flee their sites on ghost town days to sell at the food market.

The Senior Divisional Officer for Mezam, Songo Pierre and the North West regional Police boss were present early Tuesday to take stock of what happened. Investigations have been opened.