Vehicles caught fire during Karaga festival

Local residents said that repeated announcements were made on loudspeakers requesting the vehicle owners to clear the area, but the vehicles were not moved. There had been no reports of any casualties

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Amajor tragedy was averted after several vehicles parked near Dharmaraya temple in Thigalarpet accidentally caught fire on Thursday. The devotees and police quickly got into action and doused the fire before it could spread any further and cause damage to the parked vehicles.

According to sources, the devotees had lit huge blocks of camphor all along a 700-mt stretch from NR Square junction here all the way up to the Dharmaraya temple in the afternoon, where the 10-day Karaga festivities have been going on in the city. Due to the intensity of the heat from the burning camphor blocks, several two-wheelers and an auto-rickshaw parked along the road caught fire.

The Karaga celebration was set to conclude on Thursday night. Local residents said that repeated announcements were made on loudspeakers requesting the vehicle owners to clear the area, but the vehicles were not moved. There had been no reports of any casualties.