By Keefa Nuwahereza
Several businesses were destroyed on Wednesday morning after fire gutted a block of lockup shops in Sembabule town, destroying property and merchandise worth hundreds of millions of shillings.
The fire started from a welding store and quickly spread to several other shops on the same block according to eyewitnesses.
Several traders scampered out of their shops for dear lives when the fire broke out and only a few managed to save some little merchandise from being burnt.
By the time the fire brigade from Ssembabule police reached the scene little could be done to save any merchandise or property, since everything had been burnt to ashes.
The police have since commenced investigations into the incident to establish what could have caused the fire, although they suspect it might have been started by a short circuit in the welding store.
Fortunately, by press time no casualties had been recorded by the police, who are still combing the rubble to ensure no one was trapped in the fire.