BHUBANESWAR: In a freak accident, a taxi caught fire at Rasulgarh square here on Friday. Owner of the car, a Maruti Alto, Rabindra Kumar Rout escaped narrowly as he rushed out of the vehicle within minutes after pedestrians informed him about the fire.
The incident took place at around 6:00 am when Rout had parked his car, engaged with a cab aggregator firm, near the round-about at Rasulgarh square and was having tea at a nearby stall. When he entered the car, Rout found fumes emanating from the dashboard.
While he was trying to figure out the source of the smoke, a passerby alerted him about the flames coming out of the engine. Rout rushed out of the car and rang up the fire brigade.
By the time personnel from Kalpana Fire station arrived at the spot, the vehicle was engulfed in flames. ''It took us more than 45 minutes to douse the fire. However, the car was charred,'' a fire fighter said.
Preliminary investigation established that the car caught fire due to a short circuit in the battery of the vehicle, Fire Officer TK Babu said.