Hyderabad: At least eight electric cars were gutted after a container vehicle carrying them caught fire at NH-65 Zaheerabad bypass road in Sangareddy district on Sunday. The container driver suffered minor burn injuries.
According to fire safety department officials, the container vehicle (NL 01 AH 6311) was coming to Hyderabad from Gujarat. When it reached the Zaheerabad bypass road, the driver Madan Meena stopped the vehicle at a bay zone and was preparing food.
Sangareddy district fire officer B. Nageswara Rao said that the fire broke out from the cabin of the container and caught spread to the front tyres and subsequently the flames spread to the container’s first and second floors where the eight cars were stored.
"We suspect, as per preliminary inquiries, that Meena had a gas stove in the cabin which may have caused the mishap. Immediately, two fire tenders from a vehicle manufacturer located nearby and one from the Zaheerabad fire station reached the spot and had a tough two hours to douse the fire," Rao said.
Meena, who tried to douse the flames, suffered burns. However, the fire department officials will look into possible short-circuits from the cabin. A case was registered and a probe was taken up.
Traffic movement in the vicinity came to a standstill for a few hours before police cleared the snarls.
