At least 500 hundred residents of Elegu border market in Attiak Sub County in Amuru district have been left homeless after fire gutted their homes and business structures Sunday night.
The fire broke out at 2:45am, residents of Elegu say.
Vicky Angio, a saloon operator at the market says business in Elegu has come to a standstill in the aftermath of the fire with hundreds left without shelter, beddings and food.
The fire is reported to have been caused by a short circuit due to poor wiring in one of the bars identified as Joy Bar.
The Aswa regional police public relations officer Patrick Jimmy Okema said the fire lasted for three hours destroying property within a radius of 150 metres.
Elegu is a bursting market town with packed structures hugging each other—making the area prone to fire outbreaks. This is the second time that the market has been razed by a fire. In January last year, a fire outbreak at the market gutted shops and destroyed property worth millions of shillings.