Car goes up in flames on Elevated Road in Noida

It was suspected that some technical fault or short-circuit happened in the car’s engine, which led to the incident, a police officer said

Noida: An SUV caught fire on Noida’s Elevated Road on Monday afternoon allegedly following a short-circuit in its air conditioner (AC), said fire officers, adding that the car owner had safely alighted the car before the fire.

As the man switched off the AC, suddenly smoke started billowing out of the AC blower, he parked the car and alighted before it caught fire. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Car owner Rishi Pal Singh, a resident of Sector 37, was driving his SUV Renault Kiger, when the incident occurred, they said.

“At around 1.55 pm, the fire control room received information from a passerby that a moving car caught fire on Elevated Road in Sector 61,” said fire officer (Phase 3) Yogendra Prasad.

“A team from Phase 3 fire station immediately rushed to the spot and one fire tender was pressed into service to douse the flames. After half-an-hour, one more fire tender was called in but we somehow managed to extinguish the fire using one fire engine,” he said.

An investigation revealed that Singh had gone “to drop off his children in Sector 62. When he was returning towards Sector 18 from the Sector 61’s side via Elevated Road, he turned off the AC”, said sub-inspector Pramod Kumar, police outpost in-charge, Sector 60.

“Singh revealed that as he switched off the AC, suddenly smoke started billowing out of the AC blower. He parked the car. A short-circuit occurred, and his car caught fire,” the officer said.

“It was suspected that some technical fault or short-circuit happened in the car’s engine, which led to the incident,” the officer added.

The video of the incident also went viral on social media platforms on Monday. The car was the petrol variant, and the traffic was also affected briefly after the incident. However, traffic police later streamlined the traffic. The burnt car remained parked on the Elevated Road till 5pm.