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Mumbai: A moving car caught fire in the southbound tunnel of the Mumbai Coastal Road on Wednesday afternoon, triggering panic among hundreds of motorists, some of whom abandoned their vehicles and ran for safety as thick smoke filled the undersea tunnel.
While no one was injured and civic officials said the tunnel’s safety infrastructure worked as designed, motorists said the incident exposed gaps in public awareness and emergency response during such situations.
The car, a Maruti Suzuki Ignis belonging to 60-year-old retired railway employee Sudhir Krishnan Nair, caught fire around 12.05 pm near pillars 4 and 5 at the southern end of the 2-km-long tunnel. Nair and four others travelling in the vehicle escaped safely before the blaze intensified.
According to officials, one of the car’s occupants alerted the Coastal Road control room using an emergency telephone installed inside the tunnel. The Mumbai Fire Brigade received the call at 12.25 pm and extinguished the fire by 12.45 pm. The DB Marg police have made an entry in the case and are awaiting reports from the fire brigade and the Regional Transport Office (RTO) to determine the cause of the fire.
The blaze brought traffic in the tunnel to a standstill for nearly an hour. The Mumbai Traffic Police temporarily shut both carriageways of the Coastal Road and diverted traffic through Pedder Road, Amarsons, St Stephen’s Church, NS Road and Girgaon Chowpatty before restoring normal traffic around 1.40 pm.
However, videos circulating on social media showed several motorists abandoning their vehicles and running away from the smoke, while others took U-turns and fled in the opposite direction. Several commuters questioned whether the fire suppression systems were working in the tunnel and whether more public awareness was needed on how to respond during such emergencies.
“The Maharashtra government should consider strengthening emergency preparedness inside tunnel infrastructure by installing more prominent safety signage, clear evacuation directions, public awareness information, and conducting periodic emergency preparedness campaigns so that commuters know exactly what to do if such an incident occurs,” said Viren Shah, president of the Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association, in a post on X. Shah was travelling from Worli to his office at Marine Drive when the incident occurred.
According to BMC officials, motorists taking U-turns obstructed the dedicated emergency lane on the left, forcing responding fire engines to enter the affected tunnel through the northbound carriageway using one of the two vehicular cross passages connecting the twin tunnels.
Defending the tunnel’s emergency preparedness, BMC officials said the automatic smoke detection system alert the control room, which simultaneously inform the fire brigade, police and traffic police.
The tunnel is equipped with emergency telephones, fire extinguishers every 30 metres, nine pedestrian cross passages spaced about 300 metres apart, and two vehicular cross passages designed to allow emergency vehicles to move between the tunnels. Officials said these cross passages proved crucial after abandoned vehicles and U-turns blocked the emergency lane.
However, officials acknowledged that panic among motorists highlighted the need for better public awareness of the available safety infrastructure. A senior BMC official said the civic body has already begun improving signage at the cross passages by installing colour-coded stickers and clearer instructions to make these easier to identify during emergencies.
“The cross passages were always marked, but we are making them more prominent so that motorists can quickly identify where to move in case of an emergency,” the official said.
The Mumbai Coastal Road, which is used by around 63,000 vehicles every day, has emerged as one of the city’s busiest transport corridors. Wednesday’s incident was the first major vehicle fire in the tunnel since it became operational in March 2024, and served as a real-world test of its emergency response systems.
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