Fire razes Bodija plank market, 1 injured, 50 stores destroys

A fire incident at Bodija plank market in Ibadan North Local Government Area of Oyo State on Tuesday night resulted in at least 50 shops being destroyed and one person being reported injured.

At the moment, Ahmed Abdulwasiu, the injured victim, is receiving medical attention at Calvary Baptist Hospital in Bodija, Ibadan.
Abdulwasiu described how he was trying to put out the fire in his shop before becoming trapped and how, but for the quick action of the rescuers, he would have perished.

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A furniture trader and additional victim named Mutiu Olaoluwa stated: “I was outside my shop when i suddenly heard the fire upsurge. Before I could react, there were flames everywhere. Nothing would come out for me. My customer’s over 75 doors suffered burn damage. Also burned was my N120,000 plank.

“All of my equipment, a generator, and machines were burned in the fire, which cost me over N5 million. All the labor I had put in over the previous 30 to 40 years was burned.

Another victim, Adeniyi Ogunmola, said, “I was here yesterday around 4:30 pm. The fire started from a carpenter shop behind my shop, and I went there to see what was going on. On my way back to my shop to carry my equipment, the fire came to my shop in less than five minutes.”

“I just got back from the market where I loaded a full trailer of plank; I lost about N6 million worth of goods to the incident,” the man who pulled him out of the fire said.

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However, the victims pleaded with the government to help them.