The fire that broke out yesterday at the market in the Sarajevo neighborhood of Otoka caused enormous material damage. Ashes, grayness on the buildings next to it – this is a picture that describes the scene that the BHRT team found on the ground this morning.
The extent of the damage from the fire, which was extinguished yesterday by more than 50 firefighters with 17 vehicles, can only be seen today.
Director of KJKP Sarajevo Market, Jasmin Terović, said that the fire engulfed the entire area of the open market “Kvadrant” and that after the fire was repaired, the most important thing was to help people whose sales at this market were their only source of income.
He pointed out that the market had a total of 185 boxes with 55 users.
“The value of the goods that were in the boxes is high, and the value of the goods depends on the user who had which type of goods. A lot of damage was caused. According to the first information we have, 80 percent was burned and the damage is sure to be in the millions,” stated Terović.
He emphasized that investigations are ongoing today.
“We are currently working on it and I hope that it will be completed soon so that they can take their part of the work from me as soon as possible and start clearing the market and literally rehabilitate and help users, let’s see with the founder and other levels of government how can be helped,” said Terović.
According to him, the priority is to provide people with the space to work again, but he also emphasized that this is not enough because they will also have to be helped financially.
“They have to buy the goods again, because the goods were burnt. We will ask for help from the competent institutions, the Government of Canton Sarajevo, the City of Sarajevo, municipalities to see who can help with what,” said Terović.
The mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karić, visited this locality yesterday and pointed out that the Sarajevo City Council will provide financial assistance to those whose buildings on the market burned down.
“This is a great tragedy in our city when on the island, when more than 50 buildings burned down, which were the only source of income for the families gathered here. Thank you to the brave firefighters who managed to put out the fire, who made all their efforts to limit the damage possibly smaller. This is, we can say, a sad and tragic day for our Sarajevo. It is fortunate that there are no human victims and that everyone is alive and well. This is a great pity. I call on all colleagues from all levels of government to jointly find a way to help people. “I will propose to the City Council of Sarajevo to allocate funds to help families as financial aid for repairing the damage to their business facilities,” said Karić.
