At least 10 houses were destroyed in a fire that hit Mudiriya neighbourhood in Aweil town of Northern Bahr al Ghazal State on Sunday, police and residents said.
Maj. Madut Ngong Aleu, a director for administration in the state police, told Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday that the fire started at a carpentry workshop and it quickly spread to other houses.
The police officer maintains that it not yet clear what caused the fire but investigations are ongoing, pointing out that families lost their belongings due to the extensive fire.
“It was a huge fire outbreak; it started at a carpentry workshop and then it went to every house. Properties in those houses have been damaged by the fire, so the families don’t have something to sustain themselves,” he said.
Ngong revealed that the owner of the carpentry workshop where the fire began had been arrested for investigation purposes, adding that no one was injured in the fire outbreak.
Kuac Dhol Kuac, a fire victim, said: “I have lost two sacks of flour, one jerrycan of cooking oil, one sack of sugar and many other things meant for a funeral.”
Fires in different parts of South Sudan are a regular occurrence especially during the dry season when the environment is conducive for fire. The lack of adequate fire prevention and fighting services has been a huge problem facing firefighters in remote areas.
“For me, I have lost documents. I have lost my trading licence, Identity Card, residence permit and work permit plus clothes and mattresses. Four beds and a water barrel got burned inside the house,’’ said Yasir Abbas, a Sudanese trader in Aweil.
Another citizen, Luka Kon, said he lost his properties in the fire outbreak. He pointed out that he was away when the fire consumed his house.
“There are so many things which got damaged as a result of the fire. I was not at home, I left my wife and elderly people at home, so we are now living in my father’s house,” Luka Kon said. “When I returned home after the fire outbreak, I got nothing, and I don’t know what to do now.”