Tourist tries to get rid of spider in villa, accidentally burns entire place down

Many people joke about burning down their homes when they come across a spider, but for one tourist from Nepal visiting Bali, that scenario became a reality. Reportedly, while trying to remove a spider in his vacation villa, 45-year-old Gaorap Rana accidentally burned the entire thing down.

The $112,000 house allegedly burnt to the ground in minutes, according to witnesses. As of now, it is unclear whether Rana will face legal consequences over the accident.

Wind and a burning piece of paper were all it took to start the blaze

According to People, Rana, who was vacationing in the popular tourist region of North Kuta, entered the bathroom of his villa and discovered the spider in a web. To get rid of it, he lit a piece of paper on fire; however, with the help of a little wind, things soon got out of control.

Badung Police spokesperson, Ipda Ni Nyoman Yuni Eltari, explained to The Bali Times, “After burning the paper, the victim left the bathroom and went to the work room. The burning paper was apparently carried by strong winds and caught the thatched roof. The fire spread quickly and burned all parts of the villa. The losses are estimated at Rp2 billion.”

The villa’s thatched roof was made from alang-alang, a grass often used in making traditional thatched roofs in Bali. As a highly flammable material, it allowed the flames to spread quickly. Recent hot, dry weather conditions didn’t help.

Luckily, the villa was the only thing to suffer damage

Though firefighters eventually arrived to try to save the villa, it was too late, as the fire had already caused extensive damage. Bystanders captured video of the firefighters working; the video shows charred floors, blackened walls, and huge plumes of smoke coming from the villa. However, there was reportedly good news as no nearby buildings were affected. Likewise, Rana escaped uninjured, though everything he left behind in the villa was destroyed.

It was unclear what type of spider sparked the unfortunate incident. According to Bali’s Unicare Clinic, the island does have some venomous spiders, but they tend to be fairly reclusive. As such, tourists rarely encounter them in accommodations. The clinic reportedly shared, “The spiders you will likely see are considered harmless to humans.”

Where spiders do apparently appear in Bali, as evidenced by a video that went viral on TikTok in 2024, is outside of abandoned properties. While far from the strangest place one could find a spider, the number of webs and spiders in the video was fairly creepy (though the woman said that having so many spiders in one place was uncommon). As for Rana, he probably would have been better off asking someone else to get rid of the spider for him, which might have prevented the accidental destruction entirely.

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