A crowd of people gaze as smoke billows from burning shops at Maper Market in Aweil. Thursday, January 10, 2023. (-)

Three people were injured, and good worth millions of pounds were gutted in a fiery fire at Maper Market in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State on Thursday, police said.

The state police commissioner, Major General Philp Madut Tong said the fire destroyed 36 shops including grocery stores, grain mills, and clothing stores among others.

“The losses in shops due to the fire reached 36 shops. The fire destroyed all their contents. The losses include merchandise shops and mills flour shops,” he told Eye Radio.

“About 3 people were injured, one of them seriously, and they are now receiving treatment in the hospital.”

General Madut said United Nations firefighters rushed to the scene with their vehicles to extinguish the fire as the state does not have a fire Brigade vehicle.

He said the fire which started at 11 am has been linked to rampant burning of garbage near shops, a situation that is increasingly volatile during the dry season.

“According to eyewitnesses, the fire broke out and spread because some people were burning garbage, which spread through the air and in the shops.”

“We do not have Fire Brigade vehicles in the state, so when the fire broke out in the market at 11 noon, we used United Nations vehicles, but they were not sufficient to spread the fire.”

The police commissioner said the traders still counting the loss.