Fire service averts disaster at Eket market

The timelyintervention ofAkwa Ibom Fire Service on Saturday averted fire tragedy at the Udannka market in Eket, Akwa Ibom.The fire, however, gutted the building where it started before the arrival of men of the fire service, but no life was lost.Mr Aniekan Akpan, the Transition Chairman of Eket Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom, who visited the market, commended the fire service men for their prompt intervention.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that neighbours and sympathisers made efforts to prevent the fire from gutting the building, but did not succeed due to the intensity of the fire.The council boss, who was at the scene of the incident, sympathise with the only victim who escaped the fire with his three children alive.'We thank God that no life was lost. As a government, we shall pick up the medical bills of the children affected by the fire.'We shall explore other ways of assisting the victim in addition to reporting the incident to the state government's emergency relief agency,' he said.Narrating his ordeal, the victim, Mr Udeme Akpan, said that though his children were alive, he lost an unspecified amount of money and other valuables to the fire.'This misfortune is too much. I was bereaved recently and I just came out of the pain of burying one of my children. I have nothing left after the fire,' Akpan said.The children, said to be asleep when the fire started, sustained injuries and are currently receiving treatment at the Eket General Hospital.
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