Mbeya — FIRE continues to haunt Mbeya markets after goods stored in four rooms in a godown at Sido Market in the city were completely destroyed in an inferno over the weekend.

The godown is owned by a famous businessman, Erasto Sanga and the goods destroyed belong to Jambo Plastics and a businessman Romanus Ng'wavi.

It took approximately 10 hours for fire fighters to extinguish the blaze. Efforts by Good Samaritans to rescue the merchandise and vehicles parked at the area were thwarted by security guards who refused to allow civilian to enter the area and one of them threatened to shoot them.

According to eye witnesses, the fire started at around 8:30 pm from one of the rooms in the godown. The goods totally destroyed by fire include a vehicle, utensils, boxes of soap, buckets of cooking oil and boxes of matches. The value of the goods destroyed is yet to be known.

The Mbeya Regional Police Commander, Diwan Athiman, told reporters that the cause of the fire and value of the goods destroyed were still to be ascertained. He also said that police arrested two people trying to take advantage of the situation to steal goods.

He named them as Geoffrey Samson (17), a resident of Uyole who stole 44 plates and Gaudence Mwanganya (34), the leader of youths who barricaded the road using stones so that police and fire fighters' trucks could not pass and enable them to steal.