CANACONA: A loud blast rattling the window panes in Canacona at about 1.15 pm stunned Canaconkars on Wednesday.
Out of their wits and utterly confused, many in the taluka took to Facebook and WhatsApp, amongst other social media platforms, asking whether it was a bomb explosion or something else.
The locals got sceptical over the second such explosion to be heard in Canacona taluka in less than three months with every one posing questions with no answers even till late evening.
Concerned locals dialled emergency telephone lines of police station and disaster management centre only to be told that they also heard the mysterious sound but couldn’t ascertain the source or the reason behind the explosion.
When contacted, Canacona police didn’t throw any light on the source of the unknown sound which was heard all over Canacona taluka and nearby Karwar.
Canacona police said that a caller informed them that there is a fire witnessed on the hills of Cotigao village just at the same time when the explosion was heard at about 1.15 in the afternoon.
Canacona PI Tukaram Chavan said that he immediately dispatched a police vehicle with staff to find out the veracity of the information but they came empty handed as there was no such incident reported anywhere in Cotigao.
The news of the mysterious explosion went so far and wide quickly that even Canacona Deputy Collector Prutudas Gaonkar, who is in Delhi to attend a training programme, reportedly called his office and Canacona mamlatdar of to enquire about the incident.
When this correspondent visited Mamlatdar Vimod Dalal at his office, he informed that he had called the Sea Bird Naval Base at Karwar and the Naval Base at Vasco to enquire about the blast, but no one could offer him any exact cause of the explosion.
The buzz in the social media died down late evening as no untoward incident of any sort was reported in Canacona or nearby areas except for the unknown explosion.
Enquiries with the local MLA and deputy Speaker revealed that he immediately brought it to the attention of authorities in Canacona and South Goa district collector but no one was able to throw light on the mysterious sound.
This is second such explosion heard all over Canacona in the last three months. South Goa collector later in the day informed the deputy speaker that the naval authorities said that such an explosion is not from defence aircrafts and he has instructed the forest department to investigate and report to him as the sound seems to have come from the hinterland.
