12 vehicles gutted in fire

BANGALORE: Twelve vehicles, including nine private buses were gutted after a major fire which broke out at Lakshmi Body Builders, a garage located in Veerabhadreshwara Nagar on Hosakerehalli Ring Road on Monday afternoon.According to Fire Department officials, the fire broke out when the garage workers were welding a seat. Sparks from the welding machine fell on the seats and they caught fire. Workers ran out of the bus and before they could try to douse the fire, it spread to the entire bus and later to vehicles that were parked in the vicinity. Some locals informed the Fire Department about the incident at around 1 pm.Eight fire tenders  rushed to the spot and firemen, after three hours, doused the fire completely. Nine buses, two auto rickshaws and a Tempo were gutted in the mishap. “The garage is located in a congested area and it was difficult to drive in fire tenders. Also there was smoke due to tyres that were kept in the garage. It came as a hindrance in our operations. Moreover, there were no fire safety measures in the garage,” the fire officials told Express. The loss is yet to be ascertained. Further investigations are on in this regard.