Mangalore, July 25, 2014: Reports have just come in of a serious fire that started at around 5 am on July 25, and destroying 6 or more shops near the KC Road junction near Talapady, it is said that the damages could exceed 80 lakhs. The Ideal Bakery, Zam Zam Bakery belonging to one Abdul Sattar, Point mobile and computers service centre belonging to Naushad, a vegetable shop belonging to Mohammed Ali, a cloth store and a couple of other shops whose details are not clear due to early hours were gutted in the fire.
Zam Zam’s Abdul Sattar went to the mosque early in the morning and was informed of the spreading fire. He lost no time and informed the fire service from Pandeshwar but a lot of time was lost before they reached it is said reportedly closed railway gates caused delays. MESCOM was not responding to emergency calls. The fire was brought under control after about 3 hours. The rough estimated loss incurred by Zam Zam Bakery is said to be over Rs 50 lakh, as six freezers, food items and other things were destroyed. NM Point is said to have incurred a loss of Rs 18 lakh, while the vegetable shop suffered a loss of around Rs one lakh.
The angry locals protested late arrival of fire services etc... and held a flash protest demanding a fire service station in Thokkottu limits. The cause of the fire could be short circuit it is heard. The fire sparked off in one of the shops and quickly spread to the others due to a huge amount of combustibles. A case has been registered in Ullal police station.