Tragedy hits Kano

No fewer than 95 shops were razed by fire that gutted the Kurmi market in Kano metropolis on Tuesday night. The Director of the State Fire Service, Alhaji Mustapha Rulwan, has confirmed.

The famous market, located in the heart of the city, was a center of trans-Saharan trade in the pre-colonial era.

Recall, that on March 25, fire gutted at least 3,500 shops in a commodity market in the Sabongari area of Kano state.

A trader, Sani Muntari, said the Kurmi Market fire started around 8.30pm of Tuesday night and raged till Wednesday morning.

Reacting to the incident, the Director of the State Fire Service explained that they were alerted at about 10pm and quickly responded to the distress call.

He said their efforts were complemented by some private companies that deployed their fire equipment to the scene.

“My office got distress calls around 10pm, but we were able to put out the fire around 1am, although several goods worth millions of naira were burnt to ashes.
“We were lucky to have quenched the inferno within a short time of our arrival at the scene of the incident.
“We are still trying to know the actual number of shops affected as the incident happened in the night.
“We recorded no loss of life, but property,” he added.