PERNEM:
According to Pernem fire officials, the incident occurred at about 1 pm when a pickup that was parked in an open place near Pernem court caught fire due to shot circuit in the engine. A van which was parked near the pickup also caught fire, causing a loss of about Rs 6 lakh to both the vehicle owners.
The pickup was transporting chillies and coriander from Belagavi, while the van was empty. The pickup suddenly developed a short circuit in its engine, due to which the pickup caught fire and also engulfing the van parked nearby. Sources added that the fire officials were informed about the incident. As the fire tender from Pernem was attending another emergency call at Dhargal, it took about 20 minutes to reach the spot.
However, Pernem fire fighters, Prashant Dhargalkar, Vishal Patil, Sameer Korgaonkar and Vishnudatt Parab, who were off-duty, and were in the market, were alerted about the incident by some people. They rushed to the site, called a water tanker and started to douse the fire.
Sources said after a few minutes, the fire brigade reached the site and doused off the fire, but it was too late, as the both the vehicles were already gutted in the fire.
The van owner, Shankar Yellapa suffered a loss of about Rs 2.5 lakh, while the owner of the pickup, Nagesh Patil suffered loss of around Rs 3 lakh, informed fire officials.
