Goods worth thousands of Kwachas have been destroyed in an inferno at a goods depot of Kasoma Lunga in the Lunga district of Luapula province.
The sad incident has left several traders who conduct their businesses in Lunga Island from surrounding villages stranded.
Confirming the incident to ZANIS in an interview today, Bennard Chalwe a victim says he has lost 49 bags of charcoal, 25 bags of mealie- meal and some money which he had kept in the gutted depot.
“Myself and six other friends we came from Chilubi Islands to do business here in Lunga, but we are now stranded here because we have lost all we had in the depot,” Mr Chalwe 56 lamented.
Meanwhile, lunga Ward Councilor Morris Oka has since called on the Government to assist the victims in any way possible.
Mr Oka said fortunately no life was lost in the unfortunate calamity, but that goods worth thousands of kwacha have been lost.
“The cause of fire has not been established though a suspected coxswain has been apprehended by the police to help with investigations.
He said it is alleged that the apprehended coxswain was seen entering the Depot with a container of petrol after docking and unloading the goods he was carrying from the boat.
Mr Oka further said that the coxswain did not know that a certain woman had also left a lit brazier inside the depot where she was cooking from.
The Counselor has also called on well-wishers to come on board with any assistance to the victims who have lost goods.
If this fire was started by a person I feel for that individual and his clan as you dont mess with Luapulans especially chaps from around those islands near DRC.
Very sad
I bet they didn’t have any fire extinguisher
I bet LT wont last much longer or have a big following
with this sort of reporting
Bad omen under upnd. So many negative things have been happening since the new demonic govt took over
Let us a build a modern trading facility with the works cooking bays docking for the coxswain and all other business outlets …come now if we can build SO many USELESS malls in Lusaka which have under 20% occupancy we can mobilize resources to build a meaningful trading bay. This will lead to better jobs and better organized and business earning centers.