About K1 billion ($1,818,181) worth of property was destroyed in the recent fire that gutted Mzuzu Main market, Mzuzu City Council (MCC) director of administration Victor Masins has said.
Last Wednesday, fire destroyed Mzuzu Main Market and two nearby commercial buildings.
In an interview on Tuesday, Masina also said investigations are underway to establish the causes of the fire.
Some quarters accused the council of lacking capacity to put out the fire.
He said MCC has the capacity to put out fires only that on the material day, the fire engines were not serviced.
“Our fire engines are supposed to be serviced every morning, however, on this particular night, they were not,” said Masina.
He said the fault was only discovered at the fire scene.
This is the third time fire has burnt down Mzuzu Main Market. In April last year, it destroyed goods worth K110 million ($200,000) while in July the same year, K400 million ($727,272) worth of goods were destroyed.
