Louis Carter Industries Nigeria Limited, a factory that manufactures spare parts and allied products of motorcycles experienced a fire outbreak that engulfed the company on Saturday night in Nnewi, Anambra State.
According to a source in the company, the fire started around 10 pm that night and rages on till the early hours of the morning. It was gathered that the fire defied all the fire extinguishing machines in the company. Even the men of the fire service department who were said to have arrived one hour and 30 minutes after the fire had started, could not extinguish it.
Mr Ndubusi Okoli, the General Manager of the company said the cause of the fire was the explosion of a high tension cable belonging to the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) into the raw materials store of the factory.
He added that the fire razed down raw materials and crushing machines worth over N500 million just as the building was completely burnt too. However, no lives were lost.
Also reacting, the Chief Executive Officer of Louis Carter Group of Companies, Chief Onwugbenu, said the fire incident had caused a huge loss to the company that had hundreds of workers in its employ.
Onwugbenu acknowledged the effort of Chief Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman of the Innoson Group, and member representing Nnewi North in Anambra State House of Assembly, Hon Nonso Smart, who he said was physically present to motivate the fight against the fire.
Onwugbenu said it would cause him a huge amount of money to rebuild the factory, adding that he was uncomfortable about the number of workers that had been thrown into unemployment because of the fire
