Huge fire at Ghanaian clothing market destroys hundreds of market stalls

A huge fire that erupted at a clothing market in Ghana’s capital, Accra, has destroyed hundreds of livelihoods and businesses.

The fire at Kantamanto Market – one of the world’s largest secondhand clothing markets – has since been fully extinguished with no reported injuries or fatalities, Ghana’s National Fire Service said on Facebook on Friday, adding that an investigation to determine the cause of the fire is underway.

“I was at home… when one of my workers called, telling me to come to the market quickly. By the time I arrived at 3 a.m., everything was burnt,” secondhand shoes dealer Kwabena Charles told Ghana’s state-run Ghana News Agency (GNA).

People try to salvage items after the fire at the Kantamanto market, which destroyed a large part of the area and displaced thousands of traders.

“We tried to save what we could, but it was impossible,” he said, adding that he had lost goods worth a lot of money.

Videos posted to Facebook by the country’s fire service in the early hours of Thursday show swathes of market stalls engulfed in flames.

According to GNA, the country’s Director of Inspectorate at the National Disaster Management Organization, Richard Amo Yartey, visited the site on Thursday, expressing sympathy to the traders.

An aerial view shows the burned-down secondhand clothing market on January 2, 2025. Fire service investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire.

“It’s quite unfortunate that this happened at a time when we should be celebrating the New Year, but this is not the end of life. We are doing our best to support those affected and ensure they get back on their feet,” he said, according to GNA.

Environmental group Greenpeace estimates at least 30,000 people work at the market, processing millions of secondhand items of clothing, mostly from the West.

There have been several previous fires at the market.