Traders at the popular Balogun Market on Lagos Island have begun to count their losses as over 100 shops were razed today as fire guts six buildings in the market.
The fire started around 4.00am and what led to is is still unknown as the time of filing this report.
Several multi-storey buildings were affected.
Traders arrived the market this morning and met it on fire.
Large crowd have gathered at the scene of the disaster and are hindering fire fighters from combating the fire on time.
The six buildings are said to house hundreds of shops and warehouses where assorted materials such as clothes, shoes, electronics and others were being sold.
It is estimated that properties worth multi-millions of naira may have been destroyed in the fire.
Officials of the Federal and State Fire Services, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA; National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA; Civil Defence Corps, police; Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA, and Julius Berger officials were on ground to battle the fire.
The fire services is employing high rising equipment to fight the fire in the high rising buildings with the support of Julius Berger, which brought its equipment to fight the fire.
Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe said that the fire started around 4.00pm and that six buildings were involved, saying that about six fire tankers had been deployed to fight the fire.
He said it could not be ascertained as to what led to the inferno, but lamented that the presence of a large crowd was affecting the fire operation.
General Manager, LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu said the fire started around 4.00am, saying that the agency and others were on ground to put out the fire.
He said the damage caused by the fire was magnitude and serious, saying that he did not want to quantify the magnitude of loss now until after the fire had been put out.
Officials of the police and the Civil Defence have cordoned off the area to prevent surging crowd from obstructing fire fighting.