Mangalore:   There was some sort of panic in the Kadri area of the city on May 8, Tuesday when a Maruti Omni vehicle parked in front of the local MESCOM office caught fire all of a sudden. Local people helped in extinguishing the fire which was first noticed by a lady passerby.

The car belonging to Iyan D’Souza of Marnamikatta, it is learnt, was brought to a local service station for service and was on a test drive.

Meanwhile, the local people took the fire service department personnel to task for arriving at the spot quite late though the fire service authorities said they were at the spot within ten minutes of receiving the call.