Property worth over K41,000 has been reduced to ashes after fire swept through a shop yesterday around 15:00 at Mununga Quarry Lay-by in Lavushimanda district of Muchinga Province.

Muchinga Province Police Commissioner Dennis Moola confirmed the incident in a statement to ZANIS.

Mr Moola said that police in Lavushimanda around 15:40 hours on Tuesday received a report from Modester Mbazima, 40, of Kapanda Village in Mpumba Chiefdom of Lavushimanda district that his shop was on fire and property belonging to his tenant was burnt to ashes.

The Police Commissioner said the shop is not electrified, adding that the cause of the fire has not yet been established.

He said the tenant of the shop, Richwell Bubala, aged 28, of Mununga quarry area had property valued at a total cost of K41,885-00 destroyed in the inferno.

Mr Moola explained that Mr Bubala, who is a fuel vendor, uses the same shop as storage for the fuel while the owner of the shop, Mr Bubala, uses the other compartment of the building for grocery.

According to the Police Commissioner, the fuel vendor on January 13, 2025, bought fuel for sale from the truckers which were stored in the shop.

He said on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 around 14:40 hours Florence Chanda, the wife of Mbazima who was selling in the grocery shop was alerted by passers-by that the rear compartment was on fire and she quickly called the husband who later reported the matter to the police.

Mr Moola said police visited the scene and found the shop on fire, adding that an inquiry file has been opened for investigations into the matter to ascertain the cause of the fire.

Meanwhile Richwell Bubala, a tenant, expressed shock after receiving news of fire in his shop. 

“I was coming from Mpika when I received a call that my shop had caught fire and this came as a shock to me because it is my only source of income and no one remained here so I don’t know what caused the fire,” he said.

 He has since asked for any assistance from well-wishers and Government.

And one of the eye witnesses, Charles Mudenda, a Mununga resident said that he rushed to the fire scene after noticing a huge smoke coming from the shop and efforts to retrieve the properties inside proved futile due to the intensity of the inferno.

Officers from the Mpika Town Council Fire Brigade Unit only arrived later and managed to quench the fire around 17:30 hours.