Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has confirmed the destruction of over 50 shops after Monday’s fire incident at the Yoruba section of Watt market in Calabar.

Mr John Inaku, SEMA Director General, who disclosed this after an assessment visit to the area on Tuesday, said the cause of the fire was still unknown.

“Up till now, the cause of the fire is still unknown; over 50 shops were affected during the tragic incident.

“I am here on the directives of the State Government to ascertain the cause of the outbreak and to report back so that something can be done to alleviate the plights of the victims.

“If you take a critical look at the shops, they are closely located. This makes it easy for the fire to spread quickly from one shop to another.

“My advice to shop owners is that they should always put off their appliances after close of business; this would go a long way to prevent disasters like this,’’ he said.

The fire affected mostly electrical, provision, jewellery and book shops in the market and no casualty was recorded because of the outbreak.

Goods worth millions of naira were also destroyed in April when the Sokoto old market was gutted by fire.

NAN