Massive fire destroys main market, burns 0ver 2,000 shops, in Somali

Massive fire outbreak has destroyed the main market in Hargeisa, Waheen market, in northern Somalia. State Officials, on Saturday, said that the inferno last overnight, injuring about 24 persons, and destroying hundreds of businesses, which include over 2,000 shops and stalls.

The cause of the inferno is still unknown.

Officials narrated that the inferno started on Friday evening but was largely brought under control by dawn on Saturday. however, some small areas were still burning.

The Mayor of Hargeisa, Abdikarim Ahmed Moge, had stated in a media interaction reporters at the scene of the inferno: “The town has never witnessed such a massive calamity.

“This place was the economic centre of Hargeisa and even though the firefighters did their best to contain the fire, the market is destroyed.”

The market was identified as a crowded warren of shops and makeshift stalls, with no proper streets, only narrow pathways.

President Muse Bihi Abdi Somaliland, visiting the Waheen market, disclosed that about 28 people, nine of them women, were injured, but that so far no loss of life had been reported.

The President promised that the government would be releasing one million dollars to assist with the emergency response to the disaster.