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Fire guts 37 shops in Ashaiman …destroying large quantity of goods

Fire gutted 37 shops at the “Kufuor Station” market on Wednesday dawn in the Ashaiman Municipality, destroying goods and property worth several hundreds of cedis.

Though the cause of the fire outbreak, which started at about 3am, is not known it is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault.

There were no injuries or casualties because as at the time of the fire, all the traders had gone home.

One of the victims, Ms Anita Aikins, who had two of her shops — hair products and salon respectively – destroyed, said she received a call at about 4am from a colleague that some shops were on fire.

She said when she rushed there, she found her shops consumed by fire, making it impossible to salvage any item.

She said, she was devastated as she had not insured her shop, and had also taken a loan from the bank to purchase the items.

Ms Aikins estimated the cost of her destroyed items, which included  two hand driers, hair tonging machines, a showcase with wigs and other hair products  at  GH¢35,000.

Another trader, who declined to mention his name, said it was painful that, while the items were burning, others were busy stealing whatever they could lay their hands on.

Other shops affected had products such as second hand clothes, bags, belts, shoes, plastic products and hair extensions, among others.

When the Ghanaian Times got to the scene, some members of the public were still taking advantage of the situation to pick some of the items such as metals and woods from the shops.

The Second in Command for the Tema Regional Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Divisional Officer Grade One, Timothy Osafo Affum, said 927 structures were salvaged and 37 burnt.

He said the fire started at about 3:20am and finally extinguished at 06:50.

Mr Affum said four fire tenders were deployed from the Tema Metropolitan Industrial Area, Motorway and Ashaiman fire stations to extinguish the fire.

He said the cause of the fire is not known but investigation was on going.

FROM DZIFA TETTEH, ASHAIMAN

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