A grey nomad couple has watched on in horror as their caravan was reduced to a smouldering shell outside the Katherine Visitor Information Centre.
The pair, who had just driven down from Darwin, parked at the centre’s car park while they popped inside … and when they came out a few minutes later, their caravan was ablaze.
“They managed to unhook the car attached to it but the caravan was burnt to the wheels,” a fire services spokesperson said. “It is uncertain what caused the fire but it is not being treated as suspicious.”
Police, firemen and paramedics quickly arrived on the scene.
Eye witness, Alan Steele, was working at his Smokemart store when he smelled an acrid stench. After going outside with others he saw a “huge plume of black smoke” coming from the Katherine Visitor Information Centre area.
The Katherine Times reports that he rushed over to see if there was anything he could do to help, but could only watch helplessly as the caravan burned to its axles.
“It was well alight and there was nothing anyone could really do,” he told the newspaper. “There was a series of popping sounds insides as various things went off, probably aerosols and stuff like that … and there were two gas cylinders on the front so we were a bit anxious about that.”
Mr Steele told the Katherine Times that the elderly owners of the caravan appeared to be watching on and were understandably upset.
“That was all their possessions,” he said. “It will be a long trip home.”
Great effort to unhitch the tug. Would take me a couple of minutes to extricate the Trail Mate, undo the shackles, jack it up and pull away.
At the end of the day, they are possessions, highly overrated, IMHO.
You’ve got to feel very sorry for the poor folks.