From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha

The Onitsha Main Market in Anambra state is on fire as about two blocks of Kano street of the market have been gutted by the raging fire.

A trader in the market, Mr Osita Nwalor who confirmed the incident, said that so far, two block of shops have been gutted by the fire..

He said that the fire started at around 1am and has defied attempts by men of the Anambra State fire service to contain it.

The Chief fire fighter in Anambra State Mr. Martin Agili confirmed the incident, saying that he promptly deployed his men to the area when he was alerted.

He said: “The fire started around 1am, and I quickly deployed my men there.

“So far, they have gone to refill the fire trucks with water twice, and our men have gone to refill a third time.”

As at the time of filing this report, the cause of the fire was not known while the fire fighing officials are battling to stop the fire from spreading.