Property worth millions of naira has been gutted by fire in the commercial city of Onitsha even as an 83-year-old woman escaped being burnt to death by whiskers.

The twelve bedroom apartment located at No.36 New Market road Onitsha was said to have gone up in flames when an elderly occupant of the building lighted a stove she wanted to cook with.

A resident of the area, who simply gave his name as Ebuka, said that the elderly occupant had bought kerosene suspected to be adulterated which she poured inside the cooking stove and as soon as she made to light up the stove, it exploded into flames.

Narrating his ordeal, one of the occupants of the apartment, Mr Chukwudi Nwankwo, said he lost property worth over N6 million to the fire.

His words: “I equally lost several documents including certificates and NYSC discharge papers of three of my children.”

He said that his family has lost all their belongings in the inferno and wondered how they would survive.

On his part, Mr Obinna Ikah, who is also a victim of the inferno hailed youths of the area for assisting in putting out the fire and rescuing the octogenarian said to be alone in the building when the incident happened.

While thanking God that no life was lost, he said that the fire could have affected other buildings if not for the timely intervention of the youths.