Fire destroys fish market in Eldoret

Traders at the famous Eastleigh fish market in Eldoret town, Uasin Gishu County were left counting losses after property of unknown value was destroyed by fire on Tuesday midnight.

The fire left at least 7 fish eating joints completely razed down.

According to an eye witness Abdul Mohamed, the fire broke out in one of the iron sheets stalls spreading to the other adjacent stalls at the market.

Speaking to the Nation at the scene of the incident, Mohamed said his friends woke him up to rush to rush to the scene and help salvage a few items from the stalls.

He said the fire started moments after a lorry delivering fish to a client had just left, according to the eye witnesses who were around when the fire started.

“This fire occurred some few minutes just after a supplier had delivered some stock to one of the fish mongers here. I was personally informed by a friend to rush here and try to save some items because I live some few metres from here which I did alongside other good Samaritans to our best,” he said adding on that, they managed to save a few items while the rest went up in flames.

Another eye witness, Tom Wafula a security guard at the nearby business premises told the Nation that the fire spread to other joints so fast in that fighting it almost became impossible.

“We really tried to put off the fire to avoid incurring much losses but it spread so fast that it almost overpowered us. We thank the fire brigade team for arriving on time and expeditiously putting off the fire before it could cause more harm,” Wafula said.

Chairman of the Eldoret Fish Vendors Association, Patrick Akama regretted the incident stating that it had not only left many business people jobless but in debt as well.

Akama noted that, most of the goods used by the traders were procured on debt and the incident had left them in a sorry state.

“Over 4 tonnes of fish have gone up in flames following this incident. One ton of fish is estimated at Sh300, 000 and in case it’s 4 tonnes then that is Sh1.2 million,” Akama said.

This is the first fire incident to occur at the market which is famously frequented by locals who eat or buy fish from there.

However, no one was injured during the incident and the cause of the fire is yet to be established.