At least three shops, six desktop computers, food items, and two million South Sudanese Pounds in burned in Rumbek Market in the Lakes State capital on Wednesday morning.
Emmanuel Bakic Derkeny, the owner of the shops told Radio Tamazuj on Thursday that the fire was caused by a power generator.
“I had a stationary shop and studio on one side and computer training center, saloon, and beverage services on another but all of them got burnt,” he said. “We only managed to rescue six laptops which were near us but the other things, including the solar system that we have set up for use in our computer training center and our money and some we have been keeping for other people, got burnt.”
Bakic appealed to people to stop taking photos and recording videos of such incidents and instead help rescue the situation.
“We need to join hands and help each other because there were many people and instead of taking pictures and videos if they had helped, a lot would have been rescued,” he stated. “Security personnel should have also come to the rescue because some people stole items. Also, the government must provide training for firefighters because when they came, they were confused and failed to operate the fire truck.”
Meanwhile, the police spokesperson in Lakes State, Major Elijah Mabor Makuac said the police registered the case of a fire outbreak caused by an explosion at a premises belonging to a businessman called Amir Jude in the main market.
“Our forces intervened immediately and were followed by the fire brigade and we fought the fire until it was reduced when UNMISS reinforced us with their firefighters. The fire has been brought down but nothing was rescued,” he said. “A block of three shops in a row burnt to ashes. A variety of food items and other essential items were recovered but the rest were damaged, and even the roof and the wall cracked and can collapse at any time.”
“We detained two tenants who were renting the shops to help with investigations to find out exactly what caused the fire,” Maj. Mabor added.
A businessman and affected shop owner who only identified himself as Abdallah said he lost SSP 2 million in the fire and that they had not opened their shops because of the Christmas festivities.
“Everything in the shops of my neighbors got burnt. Bags of flour, sugar, and all the related food items. Nothing was rescued. When we came to the market for breakfast, we found a fire had engulfed our shops,” he narrated. “We tried to open the door of the shops but it was impossible. I had an envelope containing SSP 2 million and I wanted to rescue the money but there was no way when there was an explosion. So, I decided to stop and let it burn.”