Fire damages 57m birr around Anwar Mosque

A blaze that destroyed shops on Thursday at 1:30 am damaged 57 million birr in property and 140 shops near Grand Anwar Mosque in Mercato .
The cause of the fire, which took four hours and 147 fire fighters to control, is still under investigation.
The Addis Ababa City Fire and Emergency Prevention and Rescue Agency used 18 fire trucks and 548,500 liters of water and 900 liters of foam for the rescue operation and managed to save 65 million birr.
Three ambulances were also available for emergency services but no person died nor injured in the fire.
Electronic devices like mobile phones, tapes, televisions, clothes and food like butter, and honey were in the shops.
Solomon Mekonen, Communication Director of the agency told Capital that the cause is still unknown but rumors were spreading after the incident.
“Our job to is to save human life and property, the police investigate the cause.” According to Solomon the sheet iron which the shops were made of helped the fire to spread.
Eye witness who were near in the incident said many people were looting and stealing from the shops.