Jonglei: Fire consumes 10 shops in Marol market
September 1, 2013 (BOR) – At least 10 shops were on Sunday night destroyed when fire broke out at a market in Bor, the Jonglei state capital.
A lane of shops, including those operated by beer wholesalers, clinics and a hotel were burnt beyond recognition.
The value of goods destroyed could was yet to be determined by the time this report was compiled.
Bor town mayor, Nhial Majak blamed the shops owners for using them as residential areas, contrary to existing market by-laws, resulting into massive losses to those affected.
“The fire broke out at 1:40am local time on Sunday, but with only one government fire-fighting machine stationed at the airport, rescuing the spread of fire to other lanes was almost impossible had it not been for the intervention of the UN Korean unit with three tankers and three other fire-fighting machines a little bit later,” said the mayor.
He thanked officials from the UN for their timely intervention, estimated that between 30-50 shops would have been razed down if they never came in handy.
“We appreciate them [UNMISS] for that”, added Nhial.
Meanwhile police is now interrogating shop owners who spent nights in the market so as to ascertain the actual cause of Sunday’s fire outbreak.
In 2008, a similar fire outbreak in the same market burnt down shop and destroyed commodities worth millions of South Sudanese Pounds (SSP).
(ST).