A family of four, including two children, had a narrow escape Sunday morning after the car they were travelling in was engulfed in fire and was completely gutted in New Katraj Tunnel in Pune, said the police.
According to the police, the incident happened moments after the couple and their two children stepped out of their car as they saw seeing smoke coming out of its engine. The incident took place when the family were travelling towards Satara on the Pune-Bengaluru highway around 11 am.
Fire Officer Sandeep Pawar said, “According to our preliminary information, the family members saw smoke coming out of the engine section and started getting burning smells when the car was passing through the New Katraj Tunnel. The driver stopped the car and within a few moments, after they stepped out, the car caught fire. By that time they had informed the fire brigade control room.”
Pawar added, “Our first tender reached the spot within the next five minutes and brought the fire under control. We then conducted a cooling operation to avoid any secondary fire. Primary observations suggest that fire may have been caused by a short circuit in the wiring around the engine.”
Officials said that the traffic through the tunnel was partially affected for a while because of the fire and firefighting efforts by the fire brigade.
