Preliminary investigations have revealed that the fire that ravaged parts of the Odawna Pedestrian Mall, near the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange in Accra last Wednesday started from a faulty refrigerator.
The fire, which gutted items worth millions of Ghana Cedis, started after a faulty refrigerator caught fire in one of the wooden stalls at the market.
Officials from the Ghana Police Service (GPS), Ghana Fire Service (GFS), National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) and the management of the market were tasked to carry out investigations into the incident and submit their reports on Monday, January 21.
According to the Mayor of Accra, Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah, provisional reports available to him indicate that the refrigerator caught fire in a wooden structure and spread to other stalls in the market.
“One of the shops had two refrigerators, one of which was faulty and sparked the fire. Unfortunately, it was a wooden structure so it went up in flames and spread very fast,” he said, adding that “we want to make sure that some of these things do not happen in our markets.”
About 150 shops at the market were reportedly destroyed by the inferno but no casualties were recorded.
Parts of the Odawna Pedestrian Mall close to the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange went up in flames on the night of Wednesday, January 16.
According to reports, the fire started around 8:30pm but the extent of damage could not be immediately assessed.
Some market women, who were affected by the fire, were at the scene the following morning to try to salvage items they could lay their hands on but found nothing.
Some broke down in tears while others reportedly collapsed.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio