Heat sparks blaze in car in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Three passengers of a Tata Indica car had a lucky escape after the vehicle they were traveling in caught fire at the Rasoolpura junction near Begumpet on Tuesday. The incident, near ongoing Metro works, also caused a major traffic jam on the route. It is believed the three passengers escaped the burning car unscathed.

The resulting traffic jam also delayed fire trucks and emergency service personnel, who were deployed from the Secunderabad Fire station.
Authorities believe engine overheating may have been the primary cause of the blaze. The vehicle was severely damaged in the fire.

“We received the call at 1:25 pm, after which our officials reached the spot. It was a spontaneous fire and we suspect it was a short circuit in the engine due to overheating. The situation was brought under control soon,” said Venkateshwarlu, station fire officer, Secunderabad. Efforts are now on to identify the owner of the car.

It has to be noted that this is not the first time that such an accident took place in the city. Five such “spontaneous car fires” have been reported in the city over the past few months. There was one last December, three in January and one each during the months of March, April and May.
In December, a Matiz car was completely gutted. But the passengers were saved after an traffic policeman quickly evacuated the occupants.