It was a sad day for traders at Mashi Local Government Area of Katsina State on Saturday, when about 536 shops and stalls were, on Saturday, razed by fire at the popular Mashi Market.
Officials of the Katsina State Emergency Management Agency, as of Saturday night, were still taking inventory of items lost in the incident.
Items, mainly food items and livestock, believed to be worth millions of naira, were said to have been lost in the incident.
A SEMA top official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, however, said no life was lost in the incident.
It was learnt that the prevailing dry wind, occasioned by the harmattan, in the state could have aided the fire incident.
The Executive Secretary, SEMA, Dr. Aminu Wazari, who confirmed the development, said investigation had begun into the cause of the fire, adding that an assessment of the damage it caused had also commenced.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives member representing Mashi/Dutsi, Mansur Ali Mashi, paid a sympathy visit to the burnt market and to some of the traders who lost their items in the incident.
Some parts of the premises of the Katsina headquarters of the Nigeria Customs Service, Kaduna/Katsina Command, were burnt last Tuesday, while some seized items, including second-hand clothes, vegetable oil and imported rice, were among items burnt in the process.
