MARGAO
Tragedy struck a family at Colva when two houses along with the household goods, including gold ornaments, were completely gutted in an inferno, destroying property worth lakhs of rupees.
The incident occurred around Friday midnight when the two houses located near the Church were engulfed by a massive fire. Within minutes, the two houses were reduced to ashes, leaving the occupants without shelter.
The fire is believed to have first started at the two-wheelers parked outside, before it spread to the two houses, owned by brothers. While Domingo Piedade Fernandes claimed he has suffered loss of gold ornaments worth around Rs 7.5 lakh, his brother suffered loss of Rs 5 lakh. The total loss of property is estimated running into lakhs of rupees.
He said all household goods comprising of refrigerators, TVs, cooking range, sofa sets, furniture, cupboards etc have been destroyed in the fire.
Margao Fire Officer Gill D’Sa informed that the two houses have been completely gutted in the fire. Besides gold ornaments, all other household items were also destroyed in the fire. “The fire brigade received a call shortly after midnight. Immediately, we rushed to the site only to find the two houses on fire. We tried to save the property, but the massive fire had engulfed the rafters, ribs of the two houses,” he said.
Gill pointed out that fire had spread to the two houses from the burning two-wheelers parked outside. “The fire has entered the houses through the front side through the rafters and ribs. By the time the family was alert, the fire had already spread to the roof,” he said.
Domingo Fernandes pointed out that the two families have no shelter after the inferno gutted the houses. “All our sofas, household items have been destroyed. We have nowhere to go. We hope the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will provide us relief in repairing the houses,” he said.
SSC student loses books in fire
MARGAO: Besides gold ornaments, the fire did not spare school books and uniforms of the children who were preparing for the ensuing SSC preliminary examination as they were all gutted in the fire.
Their daughter was studying late night preparing for the preliminary examination, scheduled on Saturday when she noticed smoke entering the rooms. After she found the house on fire, she raised an alarm. All the school books and uniforms of the children were destroyed in the fire.
