Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (SP)

Bantwal, Apr 10: A house located at Kattattila near Salethur, Vittal, was gutted due to electrical short circuit at night on Sunday April 8. In this incident, the entire house turned to ashes and loss of around Rs 20 lac has been reported.

The house which was destroyed belonged to Sunanda from Kattattila Gaurikody. All the four people residing in the house were on a visit to a relative's house on Sunday. It is said that on account of lightning and rain which happened on Sunday evening, short circuit happened in the switch board of the house, which ignited the fire. As a result, television set, home theatre system, fans, DVD player and more along with documents, three cupboards, furniture, clothes, utensils and Rs 62,000 in cash as well as timber, areca nut stock etc were destroyed. The roof of the house crashed due to the heat.

A local woman informed a neighbour about the incident at around 11.45 pm. Although an effort to douse the fire was made immediately by the local people, fire raged on. Fire brigade from the taluk headquarters then came on the scene and extinguished the flames. All the walls of the houses developed cracks in this fire.

People's representatives, revenue officials, Mescom branch officer at Salethur, Satish, village accountant, Anil, gram panchayat development officer, Ismail and others visited the spot.

A tiled house belonging to Amena Abdulla Beary at Kepulagudde too went up in flames on Sunday night. Loss in his case is over eight lac rupees.

Family members had slept in the house under construction when fire was noticed at 12 am. Rs 50,000 in cash, electrical and electronic equipments, clothes, furniture and other things were burnt down. Locals tried their best to contain the flames, but could not do so immediate.

Electric short circuit is believed to have caused the tragedy. Vittal revenue inspector and revenue inspector, Prashant, visited the spot.