The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Car goes up in flames, holds up traffic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 26, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Car goes up in flames, holds up traffic

R. Sujatha

Opel Astra caught fire as petrol leaked; firefighters douse the blaze

GUTTED: The car which caught fire near Panagal Park on Wednesday evening. — PHOTO: S. KANNAN

CHENNAI : A car went up in flames around 7.35 p.m. on Wednesday on Nageswara Rao Road near Panagal Park throwing traffic in T. Nagar in disarray for over an hour.

Traffic in Pondy Bazaar, Venkatnarayana Road, Usman Road, Doraisamy Road and G.N. Chetty Road came to a standstill as firefighters tried to put off the fire and police tried to regulate traffic.

An eyewitness said, "I saw a car drift by belching fumes. When I saw it go up in flames I jumped off the bus and ran."

"I am totally perplexed. I don't know how it happened," said Rajaram, a resident of Delhi, who was with his wife Neeraja and two-year-old son when the Opel Astra he was driving caught fire. "It is my relative's car." A shaken Neeraja said, "My husband was checking the cause of the fumes when I saw petrol leaking. I grabbed my son and got out." Uttam Chand Galada, in front of whose shop the accident occurred, said he alerted the fire department, who came in 30 minutes.

Police personnel called in to regulate the traffic were also held up because of the traffic jam.

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