MAPUSA
A car driver had a lucky escape when a tourist taxi was gutted in a fire near Ganpati temple in Candolim on Thursday evening.
But in a surprising turn of events, the mobile phone of a firefighter who was involved in extinguishing the fire was stolen from the cabin of the fire tender.
The incident took place on at about 3.15 pm, when the driver, Rafael Peter Fernandes, was driving his tourist taxi. As the car reached near the Ganapati temple, there was a short circuit in the engine and a fire broke out. The driver escaped from the care and notified the fire station.
A fire tender from the Pilerne fire station went to the site and extinguished the fire, but the car was gutted by then.
The firefighters, Vishal Patil, Saish Chari, Swapneel Naik, S. Sawant, Jitendra Bali and S Mandrekar, took part in the firefighting operations.
Incidentally, a firefighter, Vishal Patil, had kept his mobile phone in the cabin of the fire tender and had gone to take part in the firefighting operations. After the fire was extinguished, Patil returned to the fire tender and was startled to find his mobile phone stolen. He suspects that the thief had entered the cabin of the fire tender and stolen the phone while all firefighters were busy in the firefighting operations. Patil later lodged a complaint with the Calangute police and investigation is in progress.
