Mayom town, the county seat of Unity State in South Sudan, was ravaged by a huge fire on Sunday that burned supposedly hundreds of houses without causing casualties.

At least 200 and 400 houses burnt to ashes, said a witness on the scene, after the fire broke out in an entertainment club near the market in the morning and quickly spread to shops and houses nearby.

“The fire broke out at 10:00 a.m. where it caught in the house of an old man called Paulino then scattered to the rest of house. The kindergarten of our brother and other restaurants also were burned. The fire stopped at the river as there were no fire brigade trucks to extinguish the fire,” a witness explained. 

Strong wind contributed greatly in spreading the fire to the rest of the surroundings, while also people failed to control and extinguish it. The region is devoid of fire trucks.

Sources who preferred not to be named confirmed the loss of large quantities of goods in addition to cash belonging to the traders. They urged authorities to help compensate the shopkeepers and citizens whose belongings were burned.