Bike catches fire in Ludhiana, rider jumps off

A bike caught fire after ramming into a divider and coming in contact with streetlight wires on the Partap Chowk flyover

In a freak accident, a bike caught fire after ramming into a divider and coming in contact with streetlight wires on the Partap Chowk flyover on Friday afternoon.

The rider, Bikram Saini of Sector 32, Chandigarh Road, was on his way to Dholewal Chowk from Gill Road around midday when the mishap took place. (Harvinder Singh/ HT)

The rider, Bikram Saini of Sector 32, Chandigarh Road, was on his way to Dholewal Chowk from Gill Road around midday when the mishap took place. Saini jumped off his still moving two-wheeler, a TVS-Apache, to escape the flames, and sustained injuries on his head, arms, and legs. A video showing the flaming bike, and passersby arranging an ambulance for the injured rider have been doing the rounds on social media. Saini has been admitted to a private hospital.

It took firefighters from the Gill Road fire station 15 minutes to douse the flames. Miller Ganj police post in-charge ASI Gurjit Singh said, “We are yet to take the victim’s statement. However, it is suspected that the bike caught fire after coming in contact with naked streetlight wires. There is no streetlight pole on the site.”

It is learnt that the victim’s leg was fractured in the incident.

Fire in godown

Fire broke out at a godown storing thread and hosiery waste in Jaspal Bangar village on Friday morning. No casualty was reported.

The fire broke out at around 1am and a short-circuit is suspected to have caused the fire. A labourer, who was asleep on the other side of the godown, raised the alarm. Two fire tenders were rushed to the spot, and the firefighting operation continued for around three hours.

Leading fireman Rajan Singh said, “The labourer came out safely. They were also able to remove some material out of the building before the fire brigade reached at the spot. The flames were doused by 4pm.”