BHUBANESWAR: In a freak incident, a running car mysteriously caught fire at Sacivalaya Marg in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
On spotting smoke coming out of the bonnet, Pradyumna Nayak--the driver--parked the vehicle on the roadside and escaped safely.
Nayak said he was on his way back after dropping an official of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) at the latter’s office.
“I spotted smoke coming out of the bonnet and stopped the vehicle to inspect the engine. But before I could do anything, the fire had intensified. I parked the vehicle on the road side and called the police,” he said.
Reportedly, a couple of shopkeepers rushed with buckets of water and poured on the car’s bonnet to douse the fire, however, the front portion of the vehicle was already engulfed in flames by then.
A senior official from the Fire Department said excessive internal heating of the engine induced by sweltering conditions or a short circuit in the air conditioning system could have resulted in the fire.