CALANGUTE: A major fire in the early hours of Saturday destroyed 14 shops on Calangute’s Holiday Street at Gauravaddo. A tea shop operating from the verandah of an adjoining house was partially damaged and a car parked at the spot was also gutted. However, no injuries were reported.
The fire broke out around 3am while the New Year’s celebrations were going on all around in the tourism hub.
Officials from the Pilerne fire station said they reached the spot in 10 mins after they received a call at 3.30am. They were joined by a fire tender from Mapusa. The fire was doused by 6am.
The tea shop owner, Sajjan Morya, said they had closed the shops around 2am and had gone to sleep in a room next to the shops. He said he was woken up by loud sounds of the fire bending the metal sheets of the shop walls. “When I came out, I saw some of the shops on fire. By the time I woke others up, the fire had spread to all the shops,” he said, adding, “Some of the shop owners were having food at the time in their rooms close by.”
The shops were selling clothes, beach-wear, bags and imitation jewellery. Morya said all the shop owners are from Nepal and had brought large amounts of fresh stock for the peak tourist season.
The fire officials said the quantum of loss is yet to be ascertained. Morya said the loss is likely to be around Rs 35 lakh. The shop owners will be submitting the statements of their losses on Monday.
Stating that the cause of the fire is not known yet, a fire official said, “We will be able to state the cause of fire only after we get reports from the electricity department and the police who are also investigating the matter.”
The fire fighters were led by Rupesh Sawant and DG Pednekar.
The shops were erected on the property belonging to Esmelda Gomes.
The shop owners met ports minister and Calangute MLA Michael Lobo seeking government assistance.
The fire broke out around 3am while the New Year’s celebrations were going on all around in the tourism hub.
Officials from the Pilerne fire station said they reached the spot in 10 mins after they received a call at 3.30am. They were joined by a fire tender from Mapusa. The fire was doused by 6am.
The tea shop owner, Sajjan Morya, said they had closed the shops around 2am and had gone to sleep in a room next to the shops. He said he was woken up by loud sounds of the fire bending the metal sheets of the shop walls. “When I came out, I saw some of the shops on fire. By the time I woke others up, the fire had spread to all the shops,” he said, adding, “Some of the shop owners were having food at the time in their rooms close by.”
The shops were selling clothes, beach-wear, bags and imitation jewellery. Morya said all the shop owners are from Nepal and had brought large amounts of fresh stock for the peak tourist season.
The fire officials said the quantum of loss is yet to be ascertained. Morya said the loss is likely to be around Rs 35 lakh. The shop owners will be submitting the statements of their losses on Monday.
Stating that the cause of the fire is not known yet, a fire official said, “We will be able to state the cause of fire only after we get reports from the electricity department and the police who are also investigating the matter.”
The fire fighters were led by Rupesh Sawant and DG Pednekar.
The shops were erected on the property belonging to Esmelda Gomes.
The shop owners met ports minister and Calangute MLA Michael Lobo seeking government assistance.
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