A fire outbreak on Friday afternoon occurred at a shopping plaza near the Relief Market in Onitsha, Anambra State.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the cause of the inferno cannot yet be ascertained. The plaza houses multi-million naira worth of goods.
According to eyewitnesses, the fire started from a shop within the plaza on Friday.
Personnel of the Anambra State fire service subsequently put out the fire.
This newspaper reports that fire outbreaks are caused by several factors which could be either natural or human activities.
The majority of market fires were found to have been caused by electric surges while very few were due to burning of refuse close to the markets.
Other factors include indiscriminate petrol storage, careless disposal of cigarette stubs, adulterated fuel, illegal connection, substandard cables, among others.
Data also show that some traders lost their lives to the infernos while some others sustained injuries while trying to salvage their goods.
Experts have also identified urbanisation without commensurate improvement and expansion in public infrastructure, poor safety culture, as well as a wide gap in skills, knowledge, security risk management and mitigation as part of the causes of incessant fire incidents in Nigeria.
