A set of flats located at Umuichi Nkata Ibeku in Umuahia North LGA of Abia State was destroyed by an inferno on Wednesday afternoon.

The flats, which were occupied by many tenants, were gutted by the fire, which is suspected to have been caused by a power surge.

An eyewitness to the incident, Ifeanyi Stephen, said it was the heavy smoke coming from the building that attracted their attention. Upon arriving at the scene, he explained that there was no one in the house at the time of the incident.

Stephen stated that the cause of the inferno is still unknown, but he opined that it might have been caused by a power surge while thanking God that no lives were lost.

One of the occupants of the building, Douglas Nkume, whose belongings were consumed by the fire, said he had left his house to work but was alerted by someone that his house was on fire.

According to him, by the time he rushed to the house, his properties and cash worth millions of naira were all burnt by the fire.

The victim explained that he was left with nothing and appealed to the Abia State government and good-spirited individuals to come to his assistance.

Other victims, whose property was consumed by the fire outbreak, were seen lamenting that their lifetime efforts had been ruined.

DAILY POST learnt that it was the intervention of youths and men of the Abia State Fire Service that prevented the fire from spreading to nearby houses.

Tenants rendered homeless as fire destroys flats in Abia