Inferno consumes shops in North Darfur’s El Malha market

On Sunday, a huge fire at the Grand Market of El Malha in North Darfur destroyed hundreds of shops. Large quantities of money and commodities were lost.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, one of the affected shop owners reported that the fire broke out in the electronics market around 4 pm.

“Because of the hard wind, the flames spread very fast,” he explained. “The fire and lasted for three-and-a-half hour. We used water and dirt to put it down, as there are no fire brigades in the locality.”

More than 400 shops, making-up 80 percent of the market, were destroyed.

“All the contents of the stores selling clothes, perfumes, creams, foodstuffs, and cafes and restaurants burned to ashes,” the victim said. “The total losses are estimated at about SDG 300 million ($ 6,67 million*).

The commissioner of El Malha locality, Ibrahim Nasreldin, has formed a committee to determine the size of the losses.

In early July 2015, a fire destroyed dozens of shops in El Malha market.

* As foreign exchange rates can vary in Sudan, Radio Dabanga bases all SDG currency conversions on the daily US dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS)

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