Five hundred fishermen's houses gutted in a fire

Berhampur, Orissa, Mar 24: In a major fire, nearly 500 thatched houses of the fishermen community were reduced to ashes at Nua Golabandha village near Gopalpur.

No casualty was reported.

It took about six hours to contain the blaze for seven fire tenders, brought from Berhampur, Chatrapur and Army Defense College, Golabandha, police said.

Hundreds of military jawans and officers of the A D College along with the locals were also engaged in the rescue work, yesterday while Collector Sanjaya Singh, Sub-Collector Ranjit Kumar Mohanty and other officials of the district supervised the rescue works.

Union Minister of State for Rural Development Chandra Sekhar Sahu, vice-president of Janashakti Party and former Deputy Speaker of Orissa Legislative Assembly Ram Chandra Panda rushed to the spot.

Police said all the belongings, including the fishing nets, had completely been destroyed in the fire.

A preliminary estimate said property worth over Rs one crore had been damaged in the devastating fire.

The fire, which spread from the kitchen of one house, soon engulfed the entire village, sources said.

UNI