100 Structures at Kumasi Race Course Market gutted by fire

Over 100 wooden structures and metal containers within the Race Course Market in Kumasi have been razed to the ground by fire.

Victims since the incident happened last Sunday dawn at around 2 a.m., have been counting their losses.

When the Daily Graphic team visited the scene last Monday, eyewitnesses said but for the intervention of personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service who responded swiftly to a distress call they received, the inferno would have extended to other parts of the market because the structures were mostly made of wood.

Meanwhile, there were no reports of casualties, and the market had been condoned off till investigations had been completed.

The team gathered that some squatters who illegally resided in the market had run for safety when the fire started.

 Some barrels used to douse the fire

Some however could not take their personal belongings including some amount of money they had kept in their makeshift structures which caught fire.

The main victims included operators of corn mill shops popularly known in Kumasi as ‘Nika Nika’, onion shops, a rubber factory and a drinking spot.

It was a field day for scrap dealers who thronged the site in search of metals. 

Victims

Some shop owners, who could not come to terms with the incident, shared their sentiments with the team.

“I am finished”, Maame Adobea, an onion seller told this reporter, adding that about eight bags of onions stocked in her container had been destroyed.

“Now I don’t know how my debtors will receive this news”, she told this reporter and called on the assembly and benevolent bodies to come to their aid.

The owner of one of the corn mills, who only gave his name as Kwasi Boat, said an amount of GH¢4,000 which he left in his shop had been burnt to ashes.

The Daily Graphic gathered that the Chief Executive Officer of the KMA, Samuel Payne, together with officers of the assembly, had visited the market to commiserate with the victims.

In an interview with the Public Relations Officer of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Afia Konadu, she stated that some experts from the assembly had moved to the market to gather information on what led to the fire outbreak.