Several rice products and machinery have gone in flames in a fire outbreak on Wednesday night at the Abakaliki Rice Mill Company premises located at Onuebonyi, Ebonyi State.
One shop nearby had already been affected by the inferno before the Ebonyi State fire service could put it out.
Though the exact cause of the fire outbreak was yet to be ascertained, some residents of the area said that the fire incident may have been caused by power surge.
They described the damage caused by the unfortunate incident as devastating.
Chairman of Abakaliki Rice Mill Ltd Joseph Ununu confirmed the incident.
He said that the fire started at about 9 p.m. on Thursday night attracting the attention of the mill’s leadership who were still in the office when the inferno started.
“I immediately contacted Ebonyi State fire service who rushed to the place and was able to put off the fire,” Mr Ununu said.
He noted that some of the valuables salvaged were as a result of his quick intervention and prompt response of the fire fighters.
The chairman who described the fire incident as mysterious said that the fire started from the rear of the building and took over the whole structure before it was noticed by the security men on duty who then quickly alerted the authorities.
“When I visited the scene, I saw about 5-black stone Rice Milling machines, bags of par boiled rice and the whole roof and interior of the building completely razed,” Ununu added.
The owner of the shop located at 13 A Line, Moses Oboh, lamented the ordeal and called on the government to come to his aid.
Mr Oboh said he may not survive the shock and trauma of losing up to an estimated N50 million at once.
