(Image source from: rannutsav.com)

The state government’s annual desert festival, Rann Utsav has witnessed a major fire that broke out in the tent city. The incident took place in Dhordo village near Bhuj on Thursday morning.

The fire is suspected to be caused by a short-circuit and was doused by the two fire tenders who deployed at the tent city. Investigation is in process although there were no casualties recorded.

Three NRI families from the US were present when the incident had taken place. The NRIs are said to have come in order to participate in the festival from Ahmedabad.

The manager of the tent city, Anil Gupta said that the fire broke out in one of the tents when the NRI families headed to the dining hall for breakfast. No sooner did the fire broke out than, all the four tents caught fire and were reduced to ashes which also included the belongings of the NRI families.

An official from the Khavda police station has said that the tent city contained 400 tents in total and luckily the NRI families were out of their tents carrying their passports along with them when the fire broke out. He said that two firefighters were deployed at the tent city who doused the fire and had prevented it from spreading to other tents. Investigation to know the exact cause of the fire is being made.

A member from the NRI family said  that the fire has completely destroyed the four tents and no efforts were made by the management to douse the fire causing loss of clothes, valuables, credit cards, driving licenses and two passports.

By Shrithika Kushangi