The southern section of Yei town's main Dar-salam market caught fire which razed shops destroying goods worth millions of South Sudanese Pounds (SSP) on Wednesday night.
The fire was later put out by traders and residents who demanded that the frequent fire outbreaks in the market be expeditiously investigated by local authorities.
Moses Tabani, a trader at Dar-salam market told Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday night at the scene, “What happened was that the fire started from another Habash’s (Ethiopian’s) shop and it burnt it completely and other buildings were also burnt but good enough people ran and rescued the situation by putting the fire off using water.”
He added: “We cannot tell what caused the fire outbreak and although some shops and goods got burnt, some were also rescued by the people.”
Tabani called on the Yei town local government to set up firebreaks to minimize cases of fire outbreaks.
Edward Luba, the chairperson of the Yei chamber of commerce confirmed a fire outbreak at Dar-el-salam market on Wednesday night and called on the government to investigate the recurrent market fires in Yei town.
“This is a commercial market burning and we don’t know what is happening because sometimes there are people who are against traders in Yei town,” Luba said. “Last time a supermarket got burnt and I called on the government to investigate but nothing was done. I want to tell the government that without supporting traders, there will be no functional government and we want this issue to be looked into with seriousness.”
He said it was not clear what caused the latest fire at Dar-el Salam market.
Officials at the Yei town fire brigade department told Radio Tamazuj that they were understaffed.