Kano, march 13 (pressTV) -- Three people have been killed and hundreds injured in a fire that destroyed Nigeria's largest textile market, incurring a loss valued at billions of naira, traders said on Friday.

The blaze engulfed 500 shops and hundreds of stalls owned by Nigerian, Indian, Chinese and Lebanese traders while textile goods and materials valued at billions of naira — thousands of dollars — were destroyed.

Firefighters were struggling to extinguish the fire that began shortly after midnight on Thursday at Kantin Kwari textile market in Kano.

Eye witnesses said that those killed were in the process of saving their goods and money from being consumed in the wild fire.

"The fire was caused by a spark from a nearby transformer when power was restored after a blackout," Liti Kulkul, a spokesman for the traders told AFP.

"Fire is still raging but firefighters are battling to contain it," he said, adding that the state-run National Emergency Management Agency was working to dispatch a helicopter to put out the blaze.