ACCRA (AFP) — A raging inferno that swept through the bustling Kantamanto Market in the Ghanaian capital Accra has reduced the sprawling hub of the country’s informal economy to ashes, officials said.

The fire, which erupted late on Wednesday, consumed vast sections of the largest used clothes market in the West African country, displacing thousands of traders, disaster officials said.

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) deployed 13 fire tenders to put out the flames. But on Thursday morning, ruins smoldered where rows of stalls once bustled with activities.

Goods worth millions of the local cedi currency have been destroyed, the GNFS said.

“This is devastating,” said Alex King Nartey, a GNFS spokesperson. “We’ve not recorded severe casualties, but the economic loss is enormous.”

“Preliminary investigations suggest faulty electrical connections might have sparked the blaze, although we are not ruling out arson,” Nartey told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He added that efforts to completely extinguish the fire could stretch into Friday.

‘Everything I own’

Hundreds of traders, many specializing in the resale of used clothes, now face an uncertain future.

For traders like 45-year-old Fred Asiedu, the fire is a life-altering disaster.

“Everything I own was here” my wares, my savings, my future. Now, it’s all gone,” Asiedu said.

“How do I start over? The government must step in. Without help, life will be unbearable.”

Adjoa Amu, a 39-year-old mother of three, described the fire as a crushing blow.

“I have been selling here for 12 years. This market feeds my children, pays their school fees. Now, I am left with nothing but ashes,” Amu told AFP, also pleading for government support to rebuild.

Richard Amo Yartey, an official with the National Disaster Management Organization, said that probes into what prompted the incident had begun in collaboration with other agencies.

“The scale of destruction is heart-wrenching, but we are committed to identifying the root cause and providing immediate relief to affected traders,” he said.

The president of the Traders Advocacy Group Ghana, David Kwadwo Amoateng, urged the government to act swiftly, adding that the “market is a vital part of our economy.”

“The traders here need emergency funding to get back on their feet. Without immediate intervention, thousands of livelihoods are at risk,” he told AFP.