Former president John Dramani Mahama has sympathized with traders that lost properties in the Wednesday, March 15 fire that gutted parts of the new Kejetia Market in the Ashanti Region.

The fire which began at about 16:45GMT on Wednesday ravaged several shops located on the first and second floors of the market destroying properties worth thousands of Ghana Cedis.

And as sympathy messages keep tripping in, the former president expressed pain for the affected traders.

Read the full statement the former president posted on social media below:

“I share in the pain of traders and others who were affected by Wednesday night’s fire disaster at the newly constructed Kejetia market in Kumasi.

The sight of our mothers and sisters struggling to rappel down ropes to reach safety, as the fire raged on, was a sign of the trauma and injury many may have suffered from this unfortunate event.

Lordina and I, extend our heartfelt sympathy to all who suffered physical harm or loss of livelihood from this incident, and our best wishes of a speedy recovery to all who were rushed to the hospital.

We hope that a speedy investigation will be carried out to identify the true cause of the fire and measures put in place to prevent any future occurrence.

We also pray that all those affected by this fire will be supported by government and their insurance companies (where applicable) to recover their lost livelihoods in what is already a dire economic situation.”