Straw fire disaster in the Bahamas

The Bahamas Government has declared a national disaster after a fire destroyed the capital's famous straw market, the Ministry of Tourism building and other businesses.

The straw market, an open air market where some 1000 Bahamian crafts people and merchants sold straw hats, bags and other good to tourists from cruise ships, was one of Nassau's leading attractions.

The straw vendors have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in goods but the Government is promising to speedily find a new site for the market.