Fire destroys four houses, vehicle in Mannar

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 February 2007, 11:39 GMT]
Houses of four fisher families were gutted by fire and a two million rupee valued vehicle used for transporting fish was also destroyed completely in a fire Monday morning around 11.30 a.m. at Vankalaipaddu in Mannar district, sources said.

The fire started in one house in a house and spread to the other properties before residents of Vankalaipaddu were able to extinguish the fire, sources said.

The loss of properties and fishing gear had been estimated to the tune of 3 million rupees, sources said.

Ms. Stanley de Mel, Mannar Divisional Secretary visited the site in the afternoon and viewed the damages caused to properties. She later directed the village level officials to submit a report after assessing the damages, sources said.