OLD GOA
A Kerala tourist bus was gutted in a fire near Banastarim bridge on Friday evening.
Luckily, the tourists who were travelling on the bus had alighted from the bus before the fire could spread.
The bus, with students, was returning home after completing their Goa sojourn.
According to Old Goa fire station sources, they received a call at around 6.30 pm that a bus has caught fire at the Banastarim bridge.
“On receipt of the information, our fire tender immediately turned up at the spot and it was noticed that the luxury tourist bus was on fire,” the sources stated and added that the firemen immediately started a firefighting operation.
“However, as the fire was spreading rapidly reinforcement was sought from the Kundaim fire station,” the sources added.
With the arrival of the additional fire tender and with the help of special firefighting equipment, the firemen were able to bring the fire under control before completely extinguishing it.
However, the cause of the fire could not be ascertained.
Old Goa station fire officer Ganesh Govekar led the firefighting operation along with leading firefighters Anand Naik and Samadhan Govekar, firefighters Datta Sinari, Dhondu Tate, Pritam Kalangutkar, Anil Kholkar, Sohan Chopdekar, Rahul Madiwal, Mahadev Naik, Jaidatt Naik, Saiesh Kurdikar and Anikesh Naik, and driver operators Sarvesh Pethkar and Kashinath Naik.
