Mangalore, March 13: In a bizarre incident, four vessels caught fire at Kasba Bengre under mysterious circumstances on Sunday afternoon creating panic among the fishermen and local residents.
The fire that started at around 3:15 pm, on board a trawl boat pulled ashore for repairs, spread to three mercantile ships parked alongside.
The mishap completely destroyed two mercantile ships named 'Musthafa' and 'Abbas' owned by Kunnhi Koya, from Hamaimi in Lakshadweep and TK Ahmed Haji from Kavaratti, Lakshadweep respectively, while another mercantile ship 'Hashmi Madath' owned by a Kolkata based businessman and trawl boat 'Karavali' owned by local entrepreneur Hameed Bengre have been partially destroyed.
Two of these mercantile ships (Abbas and Mustafa) operated towards Lakshadweep and the third (Hashmi Madath) towards Kolkata. The trawl boat was being used for local fishing operations off the coast of Mangalore.
The owners of the 'Abbas' and 'Mustafa' claimed that they have suffered an estimated loss of Rs 50 lakh each, while the owners of Hashmi Madath and trawl boat put the estimated loss at Rs 25 lakh and Rs 5 lakh respectively.
People at the ship yard, said they saw the fire blazing up to five meter high. However six fire extinguisher vehicles from Pandeshwar, Kadri and NMPT responded quickly, and the fire was brought under control within a half an hour, said a senior police officer.
Panambur police circle Inspector Valentine D'Souza along with a team visited the spot and began an investigation into the fire tragedy.
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