Goa houseboat catches fire, all on board rescued

A houseboat under renovationanchored in Chapora river, some 40 kilometres from here,caught fire on Friday morning but all those on board wererescued, an official said

The fire, which started at around 11am, burnt down theanchor rope leading to the boat drifting further into theriver near Siolim village, Pernem Fire Officer Namdev Pawarsaid

"We had to reach the houseboat mid-river using anothervessel. We had to deploy a floating pump to bring the blazeunder control. We managed to evacuate all the workers engagedin construction work inside the boat. The operation took overtwo-and-half hours," Pawar said.