Siguiri Market Burns

Fire ravages Guinea city

AFP
Published:Mar 28, 2008

CONAKRY - A major fire has devastated parts of a city in northeastern Guinea, including the central market where it began, though it was unclear whether there were casualties, residents told AFP.
The fire began accidentally last night in Siguiri at a store where dozens of fuel barrels were stored for sale on the black market, witnesses said. The store owner had been working among the barrels while smoking a cigarette, they said.
Nearly all of the central market was destroyed and residents were fleeing the blaze late yesterday.
Siguiri has no fire station, but employees from Ashanti Goldfields mining company, which operates nearby, had gone to the scene.
Siguiri is a mining city located on the Niger River near the Mali border and has some 60,000 residents.
Guinea has been hit by fuel shortages recently.