COLVA: A
candle factory at Vanelim,
Colva, went up in
flames in the wee hours of Wednesday, causing a loss of Rs 10 lakh to its owner, Dayanand Lotlikar.
Heaid that the incident occurred at the 45-year-old factory between 2 and 2.15am, when his family was asleep. They were awoken by the smell of smoke and then tried to douse the inferno with fire extinguishers, but to no avail.
Margao fire station officer Gil Souza said that after a call at 2.20am, the station used two fire tenders and 120 litres of foam to bring the blaze under control.
“What was lost in the fire was finished products (candles), packaging boxes, and locally-made machinery,” said Lotlikar. He lamented that the machinery cannot be bought since it was made four decades ago. “That is the biggest loss.”
Lotlikar also said that raw material worth Rs 10 lakh stored outside the unit was saved. A fire officer told TOI that the saved property could be around Rs 20 lakh, considering the residential house was in close vicinity.
The cause of the fire, according to Lotlikar and the fire official, could be a short circuit.
Emergency services said a short circuit could have caused the blaze
