New Delhi: A cigarette butt thrown carelessly on a boat triggered a massive fire which gutted 30 fishing vessels in Visakhapatnam jetty earlier this week, police said on Saturday. Two persons, identified as 23-year-old Vasupalli Nani and his uncle Allipilli Satyam have been arrested.
According to the police, the duo was consuming alcohol since morning on a boat on the day of the incident. In an inebriated state, Nani casually flicked a cigarette butt which led to the fire. He threw the cigarette butt which landed on a nylon net in the adjoining boat. The net caught fire which spread to the fuel tanks and cylinders kept there. This triggered a massive fire which soon spread to the other boats in the harbour.
“We have been able to solve the fire incident which had taken place in Visakhapatnam fishing harbour on November 19. There are primarily two accused who have been arrested. One is Vasupalli Nani and the other is his uncle Satyam. Both of them had been drinking since morning on boat number 885. They cooked and consumed a lot of alcohol. They were even smoking,” news agency ANI quoted Commissioner of Police (CP) Ravi Shankar Ayyanar as saying.
“Cigarette butts were thrown by them which landed on a fishing net on the adjoining boat. It was a nylon net, very combustible and immediately caught fire. The fire spread to the fuel tank, diesel tank as well as the cylinders and soon spread to the adjoining boats,” he added.
Disregarding the gravity of the situation, they fled the spot on seeing the fire. Later when they came back to the jetty, they realized the cigarette butts had led to the fire and gutted several boats, police said. They even decided not to disclose it to anyone.
After five days of intense probe and scanning the CCTV footage, police booked Nani under IPC Sections 437, 428 and 285, PTI reported.
Police further said that CCTV footage showed Nani fleeing the spot at 10:08 pm on November 19.
As many as 30 fishing vessels were completely gutted and 18 boats were partially damaged, PTI reported.