Merchandise worth millions of naira was, yesterday, lost to fire following an inferno at a popular supermarket in Ogwashi Uku, Aniocha South LGA, Delta State.
Sylverson Supermarket, which has been open to the public for over 25 years, is reputed to be the largest in the town, The Nation has learnt.
It was learnt that the walls of the supermarket situated along old Ogwashi Uku—Benin Road collapsed.
The owner of the supermarket was said to have slumped on hearing the news of the incident and was rushed to a private clinic.
The Nation learnt that firefighters were unable to respond promptly as their operational truck could not start.
A source said when the firefighters got to the scene they could not gain access into the building as the entrance door was locked.
A source said the fire started at about 3am and all efforts made by sympathizers to salvage goods were unsuccessful due to the intensity of the fire.
It is unclear what caused the inferno as the public power supply was cut off at about 12 midnight.
A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “we were awakened 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.
“The issue of suspecting electrical faults cannot hold water because the public electricity went off by 12 midnight and the incident happened 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 Eziwele cautioned against drawing conclusions on the cause of the inferno.
He said his men could not gain entrance into the supermarket because of the iron door that was heavily padlocked.
“I was told the operators make use of generators every day; we are still investigating,” he said.
Mr Eziwele said the heavy explosions heard might have been caused by insecticide cans, and perfumes in the store.
-NATION
