A fire has swept through Kenya’s largest open-air market, razing shoe and apparel stalls.
Witnesses said the fire broke out at Gikomba market at about 01:00 GMT on Wednesday, privately-owned newspaper Daily Nation reports.
Emergency teams, including fire trucks from the Nairobi city administration, arrived about two hours later says the newspaper.
The market has been frequently hit by fires – most recently in February when several stalls were gutted.
Kenyans on Twitter have been reacting to the news of the blaze:
FIRE RAZES stalls at Line 42 section of Gikomba Market in Nairobi; efforts to contain the inferno underway as traders fear huge losses. https://t.co/hHNhd4KeP9 pic.twitter.com/CO8P70ohTz
— NationBreakingNews (@NationBreaking) April 10, 2019
Is Gikomba a fire fighting training school or something! The fire incidents is getting more rampant! This needs to be looked into! #GikombaMarketFire pic.twitter.com/ZYFSwgNTL6
— Eric Manyikah (@EManyikah) April 10, 2019
Gikomba Fire!!!!!!!
I think in Gikomba market loan defaulters set shops ablaze and tell banks they lost property; businessmen burn them to claim insurance. Also traders burn property to evict tenants and charger higher rent, and take over more property.
pic.twitter.com/UHoRJtOVLM— Caro K. (@CaroKim_) April 10, 2019
A member of parliament says he had previously asked that the government probes the cause of the fires:
2/On 14 March 2019, I asked a question on the frequent fires in Gikomba market on the floor of parliament. It’s absolutely important and urgent to thoroughly investigate and get to the bottom this problem. @NPSC_KE @InteriorKE @FredMatiangi pic.twitter.com/vhgQU9t1Un
— Yusuf Hassan MP (@MPyusufhassan) April 10, 2019
