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Posted By Admin On May 30th, 2025

Shop owners in a suburb of Calabar, Cross River State capital, Atimbo, are wallowing in sorrow following a midnight fire that gutted their six shops around 12 a.m. on Friday.

The fire destroyed their wares worth several millions of naira.

The line of six shops included a laundry, a local DSTV subscription office, a pharmacy, a barbing salon, a tailoring shop, and an eatery.

Despite the odd hour when the incident happened, residents and neighbours came out in good numbers to help extinguish the fire to no avail.

However, their efforts could not yield much, as the properties and wares were completely destroyed, partly because some of the shops had burglary proofs.

The cause of the fire was not immediately determined, but many neighbours suspected electrical sparks as a result of frequent outages and fluctuations during the day.

A landlady, Madam Nkoyo Effiom, said she could no longer sleep as other residents trooped out to render assistance.

She said she knows the owners of the shops as good neighbours.

Effiom confirmed that there were incessant power cuts throughout the day, which may have caused the fire outbreak.

“I think it is the fluctuations and frequent power cuts during the day that must have caused the fire.”

Chike Obike, a resident who spoke with journalists at the scene of the fire, said, “At about past 12 a.m., the light came back, and we saw sparks around where the shops are. We started noticing smoke coming from one of the shops — the laundry shop.

“We took turns to put out the fire and help the shop owners get some of their properties out.”

Obike said the shops lost almost everything because they could not access them to rescue any items due to the burglary proofs.

Another resident, Emmanuel Ugo, said there was no point calling the Fire Service because they do not even have vehicles, firefighting hydrants, or equipment — let alone fuel to power their vehicles.

Calls to the State Police Command Deputy PRO, Igri Ewa, and the Special Adviser to the Governor on General Duties, Barrister Ekpenyong Akiba, were not responded to when this report was filed.

Source: https://dailypost.ng/2025/05/30/midnight-fire-renders-shop-owners-helpless-in-cross-river/