According to information, locals noticed smoke billowing from the supermarket located on the ground floor of Sacrementa building, which also houses Canara Bank, HDFC Bank and three ATMs (of Corporation Bank, Canara Bank and HDFC Bank). Besides, several residential flats are also located on the first and second floor of the building.
“I had closed the supermarket in the afternoon for lunch break and at around 3 pm, I received a call from the security personnel of HDFC Bank ATM that thick smoke was emanating from the supermarket. I immediately rushed to the supermarket, opened the shutters and the entire market was under fire,” said Suzuki Fernandes, the owner of the supermarket.
On being informed, Verna fire personnel rushed to the spot and put out the fire after a two-hour fight. Since the fire was major, tenders from Vasco, Margao, Panjim and Curchorem were also requisitioned. As many as 10 fire tenders were pressed into action to extinguish the fire.
“We formed separate teams for the operation. One team evacuated the occupants residing in the flats located on the first and second floors of the building and also removed gas cylinders from the flats above the supermarket. Another team brought the fire under control before it could spread out to other shops and flats in same building,” said Rajendra Haldankar, divisional fire officer from Margao.
Minister for RDA and Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha, who visited the site to take stock of the situation, said, “I was shocked to see the fire. I never saw such massive fire and so I, immediately, called the director of Fire and Emergency services and told him that some of the fire personnel should be equipped with oxygen masks to meet the situation. I am happy that there is no casualty in the incident though the owner suffered heavy loss.”
Mormugao Mamlatdar laxmikant Desai as well as Vasco Traffic PI Sudesh Narvekar and his team also rushed to the site.
While the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, the property destroyed in the fire is also yet to be estimated. The supermarket owner, however, claims that the loss would be around Rs 15 lakh.
