Man, son escape unhurt as new car catches fire near Cheranellor

Kochi: A father-son duo had a miraculous escape on Friday when the newlybought car in which they were travelling caught fire near Cheranellor along Container Road. The incident happened at 8.05 am when the car, bought two months ago, was between Manjumal and Cheranellor junctions. A bike-rider alerted Noushad A, a resident of Eloor Kuttikattukara, about the smoke emanating from the front portion of the car.

“I was taking my son Amal to his school at Edapally. We had hardly travelled four kms when the smoke was detected. As soon as we got out of the car after halting it on one side of Container road, it caught fire. The car was a new one and we were travelling with the AC on,” said Noushad, a businessman. The ‘Maruti Baleno’ car got completely gutted in the fire. Traffic was affected in the stretch for over half an hour. A fire Force unit from Eroor finally managed to douse the flames by 8.30 am.

“The traffic jam prevented the Fire Force from quickly reaching the spot. A preliminary probe points towards a a short-circuit problem as the cause of the fire,” Fire Force officials said. The incident comes a week after an ambulance caught fire at Meenkunnam near Moovattupuzha while transporting a patient and five others, resulting in the death of two of them, on July 27.