Mangalore, Mar 13: Three merchant ships and a trawler caught fire accidentally, resulting in a loss of Rs. 1.3 crore, at 4:00 p.m. at Kasaba Bengre in Mangalore.
Two of these merchant ships Abbas and Mustafa used to ply to and from Lakshadweep and the third Hashmi Madath plied to and from Kolkata. Although there were six fire engines and fire department personnel from Kadri, Pandeshwar, and NMPT, the local people joined in and used sea water to help douse the flames.
The fire caused damage worth Rs. 5 lakh to the trawler called Karavali, owned by Hameed.