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One dead as fire burns Mbarara timber stores
A woman walks past the burning timber in Mbarara City on Monday morning. PHOTO | FELIX AINEBYOONA
One person is said to have died and property worth billions of money destroyed after fire burnt timber stores near Mbarara Bus Park in Mbarara City in western Uganda.
The fire, believed to have started at around 2am on Monday, also destroyed vehicles and several other kiosks near the bus park along Akiki Nyabongo road, that were employing about 500 people.
Mr Gordon Owoweitu, one of dealers in the timber business, said the fire started from the bus park area before spreading to the timber stores, carpentry workshops and a motor garage.
“The fire started at 2am, it spread from the Bus Park and razed our timber and property worth billions of shillings,” he said.
Mr Owoweitu said one of the workers, identified as Ssenkuba Kaboyi alias Sonko, died in the fire.
“One person died in the incident. There were 15 people and 14 survived. Police delayed to come to the scene,” he added.
Mr Joab Kizza, another timber dealer, said their property was destroyed because the police were not well-equipped to save the situation despite arriving early.
“I reached here at 3am and started putting out the fire, we asked mayor Kakyebezi what we could do and he told us that all the water fighting vehicles are grounded. He called Ntungamo but they could not help either. It’s the Bushenyi Police fire brigade which has been helping,” Mr Kizza said.
Mbarara City Resident Commissioner, Mr James Mweisgye regretted the incident and said police was doing all it could to save the situation.
“A lot of timber is burnt and house around the security is doing all what it can to put out the fire so that it does not spread to other buildings around,” Mr Mwesigye said Mbarara City Mayor Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi said they are still evaluating the damage caused as authorities investigate the cause of the fire.
“This is unfortunate because people have lost property but we are yet to establish how big the damage is as we wait for security forces to tell us the cause of the fire,” Mr Kakyebezi said.
Police were yet to make a statement by the time of filing this story.
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