Traders count losses as fire guts Apongbon Bridge

Edwin Usoboh

There was pandemonium at Apongbon area of Lagos Island, on Wednesday, March 23, 2022 as fire gutted several shops in a makeshift market, under Apongbon Bridge and left goods worth millions of naira destroyed.

The incident led to a chaotic traffic situation, as vehicular movements in the axis was grounded, bringing business activities to a complete halt.

Areas affected include Ijora, Apongbon, CMS, Funsho Williams Avenue, and  Constain, Apapa Road, among others.

Motorists went into frantic mood, making U-turns into alternative routes to  access their destinations.

According to a source, the incident happened in the early hours of yesterday.

While there was no record of death, the cause of the fire could not be ascertained  at press time.

Men of  Lagos Fire and Rescue Team who arrived the scene, battled  for  several hours to put out  the inferno.

Consequently, the bridge was blocked and cordoned-off immediately to prevent loss of lives and damage to other adjoining  property.

The bridge was badly affected due to impact of the inferno.

An eyewitness said the fire started at about 2 am before, while  firefighters who were alerted later arrived.

An eyewitness, Mr Babatunde Ahmed, said  the mysterious fire quickly spread to other parts of the market.

Traders recount loses

Lamenting her loss, Mrs Yetunde Sogunro, who sells soft drinks under the bridge, said: “Two of my fridges were burnt. I could not remove them   because I was not around. I don’t even know where to start from. I am finished. I just pray the government comes to our aid.

“We don’t really know where this fire started from or what caused it but some people were saying it was from bad oil that some people were using to bake cakes.”

Also speaking, an estate developer, who has some shops in the area, Mr Taiwo Ilesanmi, said: “Today (yesterday) was a bad day,  though my business was not  affected. Most of the people whose shops were affected collected some items from my shop. How am I going to pay back because I know they cannot pay back? Some of them even took delivery of their goods on Tuesday. It is so sad.”