At least 62 shops and 108 kiosks were destroyed by fire at the custom market, which caused damage worth over SSP 100 million, the Juba City Council confirmed.
The busy market caught fire on Monday evening when most traders had closed their shops.
The traders were left shocked, as most of them did not know where they could start from after their shops were razed down.
While assessing the damage, Juba City Council director for Nyakuron Zone, Nelson Kamila Yanga, said many businesses were wiped out and looters took advantage of the incident to rob traders of valuables.
“We have 62 shops and 108 kiosks that got burned down completely. Eight of them were broken into by the thieves while the owners were trying to salvage the goods from the shops, ” he said.
The Mayor of Juba City Council, Michael Lado Thomas Allah-Jabu, commiserated with the traders, terming the incident a sad day for the business community.
“I am here to see what happened yesterday here at the customs market. It is shocking to us as the Juba City Council administration. What we got here wasn’t a good one for our businesspeople.”
Allah-Jabu said although there was no human life lost, the losses the traders encountered from the fire were equivalent to SSP 100 million.
Martin Juma Lojong, who is the Custom Market Chamber of Commerce chairperson, said the fire outbreak started at 5:45 pm.
Mr Juma narrated that the fire broke out after all the owners of the shops had left for their homes.
“Yesterday we were comfortable at the custom market up to 5:30 pm, as usual, the time that traders close their shops. The traders left for their homes, leaving behind the security personnel who normally guard the market, ” he narrated.
Outbreak noted
“Just about 15 minutes to 6:00 pm, I received a call from my advisor informing me that the market had just caught fire. Immediately, I made a U-turn and indeed, the fire swept through one line of the most shops, and how it could be put off became difficult.”
Juma said they responded by bringing two water tankers to put the fire off, but this could not help as the firepower was low.
Although the fire brigade responded almost two hours later, he said the effort was inadequate because many shops had been engulfed in the fire.
He said although many people tried their level best to contain the fire from spreading further, some traders’ shops were broken into by thieves.
According to him, all the burned shops were well filled with goods that had been brought for Christmas.
This incident is estimated to have cost SSP100,280, 000 million.
“What I have seen is that all these shops that got burnt were recently filled with goods. As you know, this is the Christmas period. Those traders have just brought their goods, some have even just come two days back if I am not mistaken, ” Mr Juma added.
All of those ended in the manner that you are witnessing here. One woman collapsed after she got her shop totally burned down, and the other did not get any information about the incident. She was rushed to the hospital.”
He urged the government to help the affected traders fix their businesses, adding that without support from the government, the victims would not be able to restore their businesses.
However, the officials did not mention what caused the fire.